Super Mario Bros Alternate
by justmegaman
Summary: A vengeful heart, a young prodigy, a spoiled princess...the pieces are falling into place. AU
1. Build Together

_Author's Note: Hey, there, everyone. This is essentially a re-imagining of Mario with the characters much younger, the mushroom people being the ancestors of the current people rather than being present, and a ton of action that involves elemental powers. _

_It may seem a bit like Naruto, with the teams and all, but trust me, it's not just a dumb ripoff._

_These first two chapters will exist as flashbacks and and for backstory. Enjoy, and reviews would be appreciated; I'd love feedback._

**DISCLAIMER: Mario is the property of Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto; I do not own it. There are a few original characters that I own, such as Ricardo, Maria, and the Dovens, but other than that, I have nothing. (I hope Whitney Houston doesn't sue me. D:)**

The Mushroom Kingdom's ancient tales and lore are many; a race of "mushroom people", called Toads, were said to rule over the land at one time in years' past. This is still widely believed among the kingdom's populus, despite the ridicule the theory recieves from outside lands.

Though it hurts the country's international relations and trade opportunities, the monarchy in particular is in favor of the ideas about mushroom people due to evidence such as decayed architecture built in the style of mushrooms, and the fact that the old sign in front of the kingdom's capital city-state reads "Toad Town"; this was believed to be a shortening of "Toadstool Town". Due to this, the original family that discovered the country renamed themselves "Toadstool" and built a monarchy called the Mushroom Kingdom.

However, the family was not alone; there were various bodyguards with them, and these guards soon discovered the ability to utilize the unique, immaculately clean, enormous amount of air in the country and turn it into elemental power according to their soul's alignment with the created energy. There were masters of Fire, Wind, Water, Lightning, Light, Darkness, Earth, Illusion, Ice, Time, and quite a few others; others who had traveled to live in the land learned to master other elements according to their reaction to the created energy.

However, there was one element that ruled over all; Rainbow. The Rainbow master was feared by all of the other elemental warriors; his powers were a mixture of many. His very special reaction to the energy made him the main guard of the monarchy, and the teacher of all who wished to create energy from the Mushroom Kingdom's air.

The original Rainbow master was a kind and compassionate soul; however, his son, and thus the inheritor of his element, was the opposite of his father. Corrupt and wishing no more than to watch the world die before his eyes, the one called Toma killed his father at only age eight, and then cast a spell on the remaining masters that twisted their genetic code in a strange way; their powers would slowly deplete as their children gained power, a fact unknown to them.

Toma left the kingdom, and so the remaining masters now had shifts in guarding the monarchy and teaching ambitious students. Nearly all of them began to have children, and discovered the drainage Toma's spell caused to their abilities as they began teaching their children to create energy. However, they did not realize the reason why, and simply thought they were losing their touch.

After amassing enormous power, Toma returned to Toad Town, planning to wreak havoc. The aged elemental masters attempted to battle him when he began to cause destruction, but Toma's plans had succeeded. The power of the elemental masters was near completely gone, and they were easily killed.

However, Toma did not count on the younger generation foiling his plans. In revenge for their fallen parents, the children of the elemental masters used their own powers to combat Toma. They were not able to win, but Toma did not notice that the Earth master was still conscious, and he was buried alive.

The lineage of the elemental masters has continued throughout the ages, and they still exist today. The spell has never evaporated, but it has not caused large problems since Toma's betrayal.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaand that is today's history lesson, kids." Ricardo finished, grinning. Ricardo's sons, Mario and Luigi, cheered, waving their small, chubby arms and shouting. Maria, Ricardo's wife, laughed heartily. The Dovens were visiting with their son and daughter, who were twins like Mario and Luigi. Lily looked rather disinterested, while Leroy was clapping his hands, yelling "Hooray!". The duo's parents had similar reactions to Maria.

"That was great, Ricardo. You should be a history teacher." Mr. Doven said, chuckling.

"Oh, shut up." Ricardo retorted, his crooked grin not dissipating.

"I'm serious!" Mr. Doven exclaimed. "Look at how excited the kids are! If you could do this to three year olds, think how high schoolers would react."

"I didn't go to high school. I wouldn't know how to act around them."

As the two engaged in conversation, the two women picked up their young and proceeded into the kitchen.

"Hey, Maria?" Mrs. Doven asked, as Lily played with her hair.

"What is it?" she answered with a question, placing Mario and Luigi down into a playpen. The two quickly picked up two stuffed animals and bashed them together several times, making "bam" sounds every time the toys collided.

"Mario and Luigi are friends with the kids of the royal family, right?"

"Oh, yeah, Princess Peach is the same age as them." Maria replied, as Mrs. Doven put Leroy and Lily in the playpen as well. Lily joined the fight with a stuffed parrot, and Leroy played with some blocks. "And Prince Toad babysits for us sometimes."

"The Queen lets you do that?" Mrs. Doven asked, disbelief on her face.

"Oh, the Queen's not ALL bad." Maria said. "Sure, she's a bit hypocritical against commoners, but she has a good heart."

"Her heart is made of ice." Mrs. Doven joked.

Maria rolled her eyes. "You just don't know them. Ricardo was friends with the King when they were younger, so our families are close."

"It's just because you are Ricardo are masters that you have even remote hope of being friends with them." Mrs. Doven said. "I was never interested in creating energy, although Lionel says he's going to teach the kids when they get older, and he's going to get them a mentor."

"Ricardo says the same thing, though I'd prefer if they didn't put themselves in that kind of danger." Maria said, sighing. "He even says he's going to be a mentor for someone else."

"Really?" Mrs. Doven exclaimed. "I didn't know he was into teaching. Well, other than history."

The two women laughed.

There was a knock on the door at the Salastar home. Ricardo, who had been taking a nap, perked up, turning his head towards the door. A second, more persistent knock was made, and Ricardo got up and opened the door. Standing there was Prince Toad, with his sisters in his arms.

"Toad!" Ricardo shouted, shaking his head to wake himself up. "What are you doing here? Aren't your parents out?"

"Yeah, they're at some conference." Toad said casually, walking inside the house. "Hey, is that a new carpet? Nice."

"You didn't answer the first question!" accused Ricardo, closing the door. He was not about to be charged for kidnapping of royalty.

"Our nanny for today is a mean old lady," the eight year old explained. "I took Peach and Toadette and came over here."

The boy's brown hair, gray eyes and tanned skin resembled Ricardo himself, despite Ricardo's green eyes. A black jacket and white sleeveless shirt was what he usually donned, along with black pants. White fur lined the edges of jacket sleeves, collar and zipper.

3 year olds Peach and Toadette both had pale skin and bright blue eyes, and both wore tiaras and pink dresses. However, Peach's hair was blonde and Toadette's was an odd pink.

Ricardo wore a red, open vest, with a loose black shirt and tight black pants. He was fairly muscular and had a well defined chin. _(AN: I know this seems out of place, but I had to describe appearances sometime.)_

Ricardo sighed, and pointed to the kitchen. "Mario and Luigi are in the playpen."

"It's still weird how you have a playpen in your kitchen." Toad said, sniggering. Ricardo retorted with a "shut up" as Toad went into the kitchen.

Toad, whistling, put Peach and Toadette down into the playpen. Mario was playing with blocks and Luigi was fighting two stuffed animals as he and Mario had a week ago. Mario looked up at the duo's arrival, and was slightly alarmed as Peach pulled some of the blocks from his pile. However, he quickly calmed down, and crawled over to Peach.

"Beld togedder," he said, pointing his pile and then hers. Peach was confused at first, but then her face lit up and she gave an understanding "aaah."

Luigi, noticing this cooperation, scooted over to Toadette and placed a bear in front of her. Toadette, after staring at the bear for a moment, knocked it away and went back to coloring. Luigi crawled away, grumbling angrily.

_An extremely slow start. The next chapter is where the action ramps up. This was mostly to introduce some of the characters and explain the backstory. Like I said, reviews would be great!_

_~Stay awesome_


	2. 4:05

_Author's Note: Another flashback chapter. Again, I would love reviews. Oh, and the summary is referencing an event that happens in this chapter._

Five years after Toad came to the Salastar's house with only Peach and Toadette...

Toad and Ricardo trudged through the Forest of Flames, named by it's founder, the original Fire master. The air was thick with a fresh, dewy scent and the trees were wet from the recent rain, as were Toad and Ricardo. Ricardo was unable to create new elemental energy due to the moisture, and so the two had stopped earlier until the rain stopped it's downpour.

Their mission was clear; a strange man had been assaulting people in the villages near Toad Town. There had been several fatalities involved with these attacks, and so Toad was sent with Ricardo, his recently appointed mentor, to defeat the man at the coordinates that trackers had placed his hideout at.

In reality, this was a supervised assignment; kind of like riding a bike while someone is running behind you, holding on to the handlebars as well. Ricardo would step in and finish it if anything looked remotely like trouble. Toad was unaware of this, and just assumed that Ricardo was going to watch him.

The two reached the top of the incline and quickly trotted down the rest of the hill. Toad was focused the whole way through, creating more energy and walking briskly simultaneously. Ricardo looked down at him for a few seconds. He had trained him well to create energy and use it for Darkness abilities, now it was time to see how he could use it in real combat.

"We're near." Toad said, suddenly speaking up.

"Oh, yeah, we are." Ricardo replied, turning his head straight again. He began to get queasy. He couldn't shake this weird feeling.

"I'm going to have him finished by 4:05." Toad said matter-of-factly. "20 minutes from now. He'll be done for."

"It's not a good thing to be overconfident." Ricardo informed him, looking at Toad skeptically.

"It's just the truth." Toad replied. "I'm strong enough for him."

Suddenly, Ricardo stopped Toad by holding out his arm and craned his neck forward when he noticed a clearing up ahead. Their target's underground hideout was supposed to be at this place; they were to detain him and throw him at the King's mercy.

"Be careful." Ricardo said, putting his hand on Toad's shoulder.

"I know, I know." Toad replied, shaking Ricardo's hand off of him. He seemed rather anxious.

Ricardo stood at the clearing's opening while Toad quickly examined every nook and cranny of the clearing; no sign of any sort of hideout.

"Maybe the opening is somewhere else?" Toad asked himself, attempting to ward off frustration.

"I guess." Ricardo replied, rubbing his chin. "But it wasn't just the general hideout that was discovered, it was the entrance as well. Our military trackers usually get accurate findings. It wouldn't make sense if nothing was here."

Toad turned himself in a circle, performing another inspection. Nothing. Toad sighed heavily.

"C'mon! I finally get to actually fight and this happens!" Toad shouted.

"Hey, calm down," said a relaxed Ricardo, walking up to Toad. "What's there to yell about? We can look fur-"

"No need, my friend."

Ricardo whirled around and saw no one. Toad looked confused, swinging his head around from right to left.

"Who said that?"

Suddenly, an encloaked figure rose up from the ground behind Toad, his face covered by the blackness of his hood. Ricardo gasped as he saw a glint of yellow in the darkness of the cloak's hood. An eye?

Upon Ricardo's expression of shock, Toad looked behind himself and went wide-eyed as he saw the figure preparing to strike him. Ricardo grabbed him and jumped sideways as the cloaked man's fist hit air. Another glint of color was seen underneath the hood, but it was red rather than yellow.

The man disappeared in a few sparks and a puff of smoke, and reappeared in midair, right above Ricardo and Toad. Ricardo stood upright at lightning speed as the cloaked man hit the ground, but rolled back up to his feet, unfazed.

Toad wriggled out of Ricardo's grasp and ran forward, his fist covered in black mist. "Take this! HYAAA!"

The man leaped out of the way, and Toad connected with a tree instead. The man ran up behind Toad, grabbed him while he was dazed, and threw him to Ricardo. The motion was too fast for Ricardo to react to, and thus he was sent to the ground due to Toad's body connecting with his chest.

The man zoomed towards them and rose his hand above Ricardo as Toad rolled off of his mentor. Ricardo saw another flash of yellow and felt a jolt of electricity. He let out a short cry of pain, before regaining his senses and enveloping his arm in fire. "Fiery Fist!"

He quickly jumped up and punched his opponent, who was sent flying as the fire that was previously on Ricardo's arm covered him. The fire disappeared as he connected with a pine tree, falling to the ground. Ricardo breathed heavily, thinking the battle over.

The man rose up from the grass, his hood still covering his head. Ricardo gaped; he had only recieved holes and burned spots on his cloak, and seemed uninjured.

_'Can't hold back...'_ Ricardo thought, running to the cloaked man as he took in a huge breath of air.

The man met his action, running to Ricardo. As the two were about to collide, Ricardo leaped nearly ten feet into the air as his eyes turned a reddish-orange. He spewed out an enormous stream of fire, which quickly enveloped the man. Toad stared in awe at this technique.

_'Has he been making energy this whole time? That must take a ton...' _Toad thought, continuing to wonder about it.

After about fifteen seconds, Ricardo stopped, letting himself fall to the ground. He took in several deep breaths, much more tired out than before. He stood up, his weakened form making him look slightly lopsided. The spot where the man was kept burning.

"I think that finished him off, Toad. We'll wait for the fire to go out and head home." Ricardo called to his student.

"Um....Ricardo?" said a confused Toad. "Wouldn't a fire spread if it's burning on grass?"

Realization suddenly hit. A fire on grass would spread, wouldn't it? Ricardo walked over to the fire and realized that it was actually receding slowly. Ricardo looked up and stared in shock at what was there; a roof of water. He could not see the sky.

"What just hap-"

Ricardo choked on his words as a beam struck him through the chest from behind, missing his heart by centimeters. Ricardo fell to his knees as Toad stared in pure fear.

The cloaked man walked up from behind Ricardo, laughing evilly in a merry sort of way, as if these sorts of things made him giddy. He leaned his head over Ricardo's pained face.

"I'll give you this, that little fire breath thingy you did actually stung. But I still expected more from the one they call the most talented of the elemental masters," said the man, a merry tone still accompanying his voice. It made Toad want to smack him, but he stayed put.

"You...you may have...beaten me...." Ricardo began, coughing. "...but....I'll live on...I'll live on through my sons...they'll keep carrying my legacy....."

"Ramblings of a dead man," the cloaked man claimed, chuckling. "Well, I guess I can give one gift to you and the boy; my name is Tora. T-O-R-A. Remember it in the afterlife, 'kay?"

"Tora...?" Ricardo asked, his breath beginning to run out. "That name...and your abilities...they're similar...they remind me of...another....."

Tora shrugged. "If you say so. I'm barely listening now."

The two stared at each other for a while, until Ricardo could no longer breathe. His head fell back and his eyes closed.

Ricardo was dead.

"Heh...guess I got no more business here." Tora lifted his palm up and let the roof of water gather into it and seep into his skin. The fire had dissipated and there was no need for the water.

Tora began to walk away, until Toad called him out.

"H...hey!" Toad shouted, his eyes mixed with confusion and anger. "Why aren't you going to kill me? Aren't I a witness?"

"You?" Tora asked. He began to laugh softly. "You...**you're not even a life worth taking.**"

Tora left, leaving Toad to think that over.

Toad looked down, his face glum and miserable. After a few seconds, teardrops began falling on the grass.

At 4:03, the grass below Toad was soaked.

At 4:05, sobs rang out.

_AN: I actually came up with the whole 4:05 thing at the last minute, so it might seem a little shoved in. Feedback would be awesome._

_~Like you should stay_


	3. An Important Day

_Author's Note: Here we have the third chapter. Reviews would be awesome, and just enjoying it would be more so._

There had been much crying on the day of Ricardo's death. Toad, Maria, Mario, Luigi, the King--choked sobs and pouring tears had come from all of them, and a few others. Toad had been allowed, in a rare case, to train solo, while Mario was left to practice with the few techniques his father had already taught him, having no real clue how to create his own from his energy.

The Toadstools and the Salastars (_1)_ had grown distant after Ricardo's death, the Queen fueling her daughters with hate for "peasants", leaving Mario and Luigi without friends aside from the Doven twins and Toad, who took it upon himself to be a father figure for Mario and Luigi despite his youth. Both continued their training and worked towards becoming masters, determined to someday avenge their father and be as great as he was.

5 years after Ricardo's death...

"Bro? Hey, bro!"

Luigi dashed into his bedroom, specifically a bedroom he shared with his twin brother Mario. Today was such an important, awesome day that he had expected Mario to be fully dressed, pumped, and doing push-ups now that Luigi had returned from getting the paper and taking in the scent of cooking bacon and eggs. Instead he found the lazy moron asleep, snoring loudly with his left arm and leg hanging off his bed.

Luigi let his blood boil for a few seconds, and then walked over to Mario's bed and proceeded to shake his brother furiously, by the leg.

"GET UP GET UP GET UP GET UP GET UP GET UP GET UP!" Luigi shouted, though Mario's eyes had opened and he had gotten a "Cut it out!" out of his mouth by the third "GET UP!"

"Dude! Stop it!" Mario said angrily, shoving Luigi aside. He had been shaken like a rag doll and wasn't all that happy about it.

"Don't you what today is?" Luigi asked, sounding a bit exasperated.

"The 4th of May?" Mario replied, looking at Luigi incredulously.

"Don't be obnoxious!" Luigi yelled. "Today is the day we become official elemental masters! Guardians of the kingdom!"

Mario's brain clicked back into place after Luigi said that. _'Dang it! I forgot that was today! I had three chicken breasts last night! I don't wanna be out of shape today of all days!'_ Mario thought, putting his face in his hand.

"Anything wrong?" Luigi asked, looking at Mario from different angles. "You seem kinda tense."

Mario looked up at Luigi and jumped off his bed and onto his feet. "Nah, I'm fine. I'll get dressed and be down in a sec."

"Cool." And with that, Luigi zoomed away. He had inherited his mother's Lightning element, and the way his energy aligned with his body gave him heavily enhanced running speed.

Mario threw his pajamas off and dressed in his typical attire that luckily wasn't being washed today (_2_). After this, he grabbed his backpack, already prepared a few days ago, and trotted down the stairs to the kitchen.

Mario took a deep whiff of the scrambled eggs and bacon, just as Luigi had earlier, and took his seat at the table just as a full plate was pushed in front of him.

"Thanks, Mom. Looks great." Mario said, quickly grabbing a fork and digging in to the eggs. Luigi took a try at the bacon first, crunching and swallowing in a very fast rhythm.

"Wow, boys. Don't suffocate yourselves." Maria said bemusedly, sitting at the third chair at the small square table. The chair at the head of the table was left empty, as always.

"We gotta-" Chomp, gulp. "-get some energy for-" Chomp, gulp. "-our first day as-" Chomp, gulp. "-elemental masters." Chomp, gulp, and the eggs were gone. Mario moved on to the bacon just as Luigi started on the eggs.

"Oh, yeah." Maria sighed, slowly chewing and swallowing as opposed to her sons' inhalation of breakfast. "That's today, isn't it? I'll be there for the ceremony."

"You sound kinda glum, Mom," said Luigi, looking at Maria with his head tilted, nearly done with his eggs. "Anything wrong?"

"Of course something's wrong!" She squealed, taking both of them off guard (Mario was even forced to cough up his last bits of bacon). "My little boys are growing up! I don't have to baby them anymore! Soon you'll be moving out and getting houses of your own!"

"We're 13, Mom." Mario said, rolling his eyes. "It's not like we're gonna move out tomorrow."

"Oh, I know." Maria said, calming down and sighing again. "It's just so stressful. It feels like you were born just yesterday."

"Don't worry, Mom." Luigi said playfully, grinning and wiping his mouth. "We'll try not to leave so soon. And besides, you're still young...I think. You won't die before you see us have "grandbabies"."

Mario laughed at his brother's imitation of his mother's voice, while Maria retorted with an "Oh, stop.".

Mario and Luigi both stood up, threw their plates in the sink, and grabbed their backpacks.

"See ya at the ceremony, Mom." Mario said brightly, waving as he opened the door and Luigi walked out ahead of him.

"See you later, honey." Maria replied, smiling at Mario as he left.

"We're going to Mushroom Castle, right?" Mario asked, huffing and puffing as he caught up to Luigi. Luckily Luigi wasn't running at hyperspeed as per typical, so he was much easier to get to.

"Yeah, that's what Toad said a few days ago, remember?" Luigi answered, slowing down a little so Mario could keep pace with him. His basic black and green ensemble was light and great for running, as were the running shoes he had gotten as a birthday present last year.

"Sorry. My memory's been fuzzy lately." Mario said, shaking his head lightly. "Don't really know why."

"Maybe you're just stupid." Luigi suggested, grinning.

"Oh, shut it!" Mario yelled, slapping Luigi on the arm as the latter laughed and quickened his pace.

_Notes:_

_1. In case I didn't clear this up before, the last name of Ricardo/Maria/Mario/Luigi is Salastar._

_2. His outfit can be compared to Ricardo's but has a few changes; his jacket has white fur like Toad's and is short-sleeved, and he has shorts instead of pants and they are looser and baggier than Ricardo's pants. There is also a 'palette swap', I guess you could say, as Mario has a red shirt and black jacket._

_Hope you enjoyed it. Reviews would be nice. And don't forget to_

_~Stay awesome_


	4. Teaming Up

_Author's Note: Um...really not much to say that I haven't said before. Hope you enjoy it, please review, all that jazz._

_**DISCLAIMER: **_**I don't own anything, not Mario, not F-Zero, not Paper Mario, et cetera. All properties of Nintendo.**

"Wow."

Mario and Luigi never really remembered ever being inside Mushroom Castle, so it was pretty cool for them to see the sights of just the entrance hall. Everything seemed covered with gold, made out of gold, painted with gold solution. The only things that didn't seem gold were the regal red and white carpet, and the paintings of old Toadstool ancestors.

"This is...fancy." Mario said simply, feeling like a rusty tin can thrown into a sea of platinum; or, more literally, gold.

"You can say that again." Luigi muttered, looking around in awe.

"You get used to it."

Both Mario and Luigi slightly jumped, turning their heads to see a stoic Toad, looking down at them. He was a decent foot taller than either of them, as Mario and Luigi had yet to hit their growth spurts and Toad's 18 year old body was gigantically tall, at least from the duo's standpoint.

"You scared us!" Mario shouted, his face slightly red. "Don't sneak up on us like that!"

"Heh. Sorry, guys." Toad said, crossing his arms and flashing a quick smile. His hair had grown out and was much longer than five years ago, reaching down slightly below his shoulders, and while his outfit had not changed he now wore a silver chain around his neck.

"Ummm...do you know where the prep room is?" Luigi asked hopefully, standing on his toes.

"Same place you had the written test to get here now." Toad said, motioning his head over to a side door on the indoor balcony. "You should know where it is, right over there."

"Really? Seems kinda weird to do that." Mario noted, giving a skeptical expression. Toad grabbed his shoulder and gave him a shove-off, leading Mario to turn his head around, give a dirty look, and run up the stairs to the balcony. Luigi followed, but at hyperspeed this time, and Mario was left spinning with dust swirling around him in about a second.

"I'll get you for that!" Mario yelled, quickly running to the door to the classroom he remembered. Toad put his face in his palm, sighing. Couldn't those two ever be quiet?

Mario dashed into the classroom, but quickly skidded to a stop and looked around, scratching the back of his head. The teacher, Zess T., a rather grumpy old woman with a hobby for cooking, gave Mario an annoyed look and crossed her arms.

"Please be seated, Mr. Salastar." Zess T. said, her look of irritation deepening with every syllable. "I would like it much more than you running around like a wild hooligan."

Chuckles/giggles erupted around the room, and Mario gave glares to some of the louder people as he marched over to his seat next to Luigi.

He noticed nearly all of the people from last time, including a tall, slender boy who wore a thick white sweatshirt and baggy sweatpants, a weird looking guy donning what looked like blood smeared around his lips and a long sleeved white shirt, the two princesses of the Mushroom Kingdom, Peach and Toadette, the third pair of twins in town aside from him and Luigi and the Dovens, and the aforementioned Dovens, Leroy looking tired and unfocused and Lily looking excited and filled with energy.

"All right, normally we would move right to the ceremony, but there's been a change in the usual setup we thought important to inform you of." Most of the kids in the class perked up and listened, though a few (like Leroy) remained relatively uncaring.

"There's been a shortage of people offering themselves up as mentors this time around," she paused, apparently to see if anyone was going to speak up. "So, we'll have to split you all into pairs and you'll become a team with your mentor. We have a perfect amount of teachers for this."

A few groaned, including the princesses, though most took it as interesting. A few even smiled.

"This is actually a good thing, because it will be much easier to teach you the importance of teamwork when you have someone in your own age group teaming up with you." Zess T. said, keeping everyone at attention. "Now, I'm going to announce the pairs and their respective mentors. PLEASE pay close attention, especially you in the back."

Leroy looked up a bit, raising an eyebrow. He had been supposedly sleeping, his head in his raised lap.

"Yes, you! Stop snoozing and pay attention!" A few people laughed again, but Leroy did not care nearly as much as Mario and just kept his head up using slight effort, not bothering to drop his feet from the table.

"NOW I'll announce the pairs." Zess T. stated, her annoyed face returning for a moment.

Mario began hoping and praying that he would be with Luigi, with Toad as his mentor. After all, Toad had hinted a few days ago that he'd offered himself as one. It would be perfect if that happened.

"King Boo and Dry Bones, meet Bowser Koopa in Room 5 on the balcony."

The kid with the bloody lips and the kid with the sweater both got up, walking to the door and then out of it. Mario didn't recognize any of those names, and so just forgot about them.

"Lily Doven and Leroy Doven, meet Captain Charles Jay Falcon in Room 8 on the balcony."

Mario thought that was appropriate, brother and sister together. He hoped the same thing would happen to him.

"Daisy Rosetta and Diddy Kong, please meet Donkey Kong in Room 1 on the balcony."

Mario didn't care again. _'Who are these people? I ought to get some more friends.' _In any case, the people that walked out were a girl with brownish orange hair tied into a bun and a kimono decorated with various flowers, and a small, hyperactive boy with wild brown hair.

"Luigi Salastar and Toadette Toadstool, please meet Yoshi Toran in Room 10 on the balcony."

Toadette seemed a bit surprised, but just sighed and got up, annoyedly walking beside Luigi as they left the room. Peach seemed to look up just as they left, registering what was happening at this point. Mario had his own thoughts about this.

_'Wait a minute...Luigi's gone...no! The only ones left are me an-'_

"Mario Salastar and Peach Toadstool, please meet Toad Toadstool in the castle courtyard."

_I guess it ends on a slight cliffhanger. Hope you enjoyed it, and remember to_

_~Stay awesome_


	5. Name

_Author's Note: The last two have been a tad short, so I'll try to make this one longer. Enjoy, review, et cetera. I don't own anything._

_'What? Peach Toadstool?' _Mario thought, an angry expression on his face. _'She's been a cheeky little brat since my ninth birthday! I mean, sure, Toad's my mentor, but her? No! No way!'_

Peach looked over at Mario, her face shocked. It seemed she hadn't really been listening until her name was called. "Wait, Salastar? A commoner? Not my sister?" Peach asked, still attempting to register this knowledge.

"Yes, Princess Peach." Zess. T replied, a bit tense and irritated yet again. "Go meet your older brother in the courtyards, and please refer to your new teammate by his first name."

Peach rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Why should I? He's just a peasant. I don't have to." Peach said coldly, reaching in her purse on the floor to find a nail file.

"Shut up!" Mario shouted angrily, standing up and looking over at Peach. "Just shut your trap! The way you talk just makes me want to throw up!"

Peach gave a small gasp, but quickly recovered and then laughed. "Idiot. You know I can throw you in prison, right?"

"Mr. Salastar!" Zess T. screeched, her face a blistering red. "Do not speak to Princess Peach that way!"

"Pffff." Mario said, giving a raspberry. "Like I care. She's just a brat! She's not responsible or a princess! Pathetic!"

"You're the brat! Speaking to royalty like that!" Peach retorted, her face full of rage.

"Both of you, STOP!" Zess T. yelled. Both Mario and Peach turned to her, surprised.

"Just meet Prince Toad in the courtyards, please!" Zess T. said, rubbing her temples and closing her eyes. "Get out and let me relax!"

Still a bit confused from Zess T.'s outburst, Mario and Peach hurried to the door and left the room.

"Man, that lady was insane." Mario said, chuckling and rubbing the back of his head. "Probably belongs in an asylum or somethin'."

Peach laughed, but quickly stopped herself as she led Mario down the stairs and to a different side door, made of wood and netting and tucked away to a corner of the room. You could see plants and a walkway behind it, and it looked out of place in the golden entrance hall.

"Eh? What was that?" Mario asked, staring at Peach curiously.

"What was what?" Peach asked, stopping her attempt to open the door. She was trying to keep her tone cold, with only slightly successful results.

"You just stopped laughing. Randomly." Mario said, stating the obvious.

"You're a commoner," she said simply, not turning from the door. "I'm not supposed to be friendly to commoners."

"Well...why?" Mario asked, his face scrunching up hard in confusion.

Peach hesitated, unable to come up with an answer. "Um...because...you're..." She stammered. However, she quickly stopped herself and turned to face Mario, sneering.

"Why should I tell you?" she asked, her voice dripping with dislike. "Your blood is tainted, your ancestors dirty and useless. My blood is pure, my ancestors regal and important. We are in two completely different leagues. I'm at the top; you're at the bottom."

Mario just stood there, speechless. He looked down, his face shadowed. Suddenly, he rose his head, grinning stupidly.

"I think, with the way I act, and the way you act...it's clear who's at the top and who's at the bottom."

Peach's eyes widened, and then, her face burning with rage, she slapped Mario across the face, sending him straight to the floor. Further pain was inflicted when he hit his head on the solid gold floor.

"You insolent, pathetic, disrespectful, moronic little-" Peach began, but was quickly cut off when the door behind her opened.

"Would someone please explain what the heck happened?" Toad asked, almost instantly noticing the slight blood flow from Mario's head and the red mark on his cheek.

Soon enough, Mario, Peach, and Toad were in a main clearing in the castle courtyards, Peach pouting after a short lecture and Mario rubbing the area of his head where it was bandaged. Toad was giving an appraising look to both of them, apparently judging their power.

"Well...we're here." Mario said, looking around in a bored manner. "What are we supposed to do? Everyone else is in an indoor room...why are we outside?"

"Because I'm doing something different from everyone else." Toad mumbled, almost unhearable if you weren't listening carefully. He was looking Mario over from head to toe, an eyebrow raised. He was a good ten yards from both Mario and Peach, who stood side by side near a cluster of wildflowers and pine trees.

"What kind of different?" Mario asked, giving Toad a weird look as he realized that he was being inspected.

"You ask too many questions," was all Mario got for a reply. He sighed angrily and put his hands behind his head, simultaneously leaning his head back.

Peach began to pay attention again, getting over her short pouting fit. She was also a bit weirded out by Toad's looking over her, and took a step back.

"Anything wrong with you, bro?" She asked, her eyes instead asking the question "Are you insane?"

"Okay." Toad suddenly spoke up, startling both of his new students. "I think I've gauged both of your skill levels by now."

"The stronger of you is..." Toad rose two fingers to his forehead, closing his eyes. "...Peach." He used the two fingers to point to the aforementioned, who seemed delighted.

"Heh!" She laughed, though it was more of a shout than a laugh. "No surprise, really. The commoner must be awfully weak."

"SHUT UP!" Mario yelled, clenching his fists and giving Peach (what he thought was) a menacing glare.

"Both of you, calm down!" Toad said, raising his voice but not to the point of a yell. "Peach, you aren't all that much stronger than Mario, and these are just assumptions. Mario, don't yell at your future ruler."

"Future ruler?" Mario exclaimed, appalled. "SHE'S going to be the queen? Why can't you be king?"

"One, that's not what we're talking about, two, I turned it down recently so Peach could have it." Toad said tensely, rubbing his forehead as he talked. Mario seemed dissatisfied with that answer, but nodded anyway, a frown etched onto his face.

"Anyway, I want to test just how strong you two are." Toad said, giving them both a smirk. "So, I'm going to fight both of you."

The duo just stared at him in disbelief.

"Us, fight you?" Peach asked, pointing to herself and Mario and then Toad at the appropriate words.

"Um...we might die." Mario said sheepishly.

"No, you won't." Toad replied, still smirking. "This is just going to be a test. I'm not going to fight you seriously."

"We're not good enough to be taken seriously?" Mario asked angrily, his mood changing immediately.

"To be frank, no." Toad answered. His smirk just barely widened, like this was going just as he had wanted.

"You've seen me train, Toad!" Mario pointed out, his face slightly softening. "I can't take you on? If you're actually fighting?"

Toad nodded, trying to seem grim but unable to keep his bright expression off his face.

Silence for a few seconds.

"HYAH!" Mario shouted, suddenly running over to Toad, pulling his arm back as sparks began to form around it.

"YOU IDIOT!" Peach screamed, her face filled with rage again. She ran after Mario, but was unable to catch up. "HE'LL KILL YOU!"

Mario was quickly closing the short distance between he and Toad. Toad was still standing there, smirking.

Mario reached Toad and threw his clenched fist; now engulfed in fire along with the rest of his arm; to Toad's chest and yelled "FIERY FIST!"

Toad reacted with blinding speed, dodging the reckless assault and judo chopping the back of Mario's neck, sending him sprawling to the ground. The fire surrounding his arm had fizzled out near instantly.

Toad picked Mario up by the back of his jacket, gruffly standing him up and not letting go of him. Mario struggled against Toad's grip, but it was an iron one for sure. He stood there helplessly, feeling like an idiot for being fooled so easily.

"Nice try." Toad said wryly, looking down at Mario, who in turn looked up, his frown morphed into a scowl. "But I know that technique, and it's weaknesses. In case you forgot, your father was my mentor."

Mario's mouth twitched, but he kept his scowl solemn.

"Don't rely on one or two techniques to keep using all the time." Toad continued, looking up at Peach as he was speaking to both of them now. "Mix up your attacks, make yourself unpredictable."

Mario and Peach waited for him to say something else, which he didn't. After another moment of silence, Toad let Mario go, the latter promptly dusting himself off.

"All right, Mario had his turn. It's your go, Peach." Toad said, crossing his arms. "Show me what you've got."

Peach nodded slowly, and then put her arms into battle ready positions. "Crystal Barriers!" Suddenly, pointed chunks of jewel-like ice sprouted from Peach's arms, covering her hands and giving her offensive power. She began to run towards Toad, slightly slower than Mario but fast nontheless.

Toad did the same, acting as if he were more prepared this time around. The two met each other, and Peach swiped at Toad. Toad quickly crouched down and swept Peach to the ground with his left leg. Though dazed, she managed to get a small scratch in on the same leg with one of her barriers. Toad gave a very slight cringe, and then socked Peach in the stomach.

Peach was taken off guard, and was left defenseless as Toad stood up and picked her up by the back of her pink dress, much as he did with Mario's jacket. However, he held her captive for a much shorter time than he did Mario, releasing her after just a few seconds. Peach was left slightly woozy and hurt after this short scuffle.

"Agh, my stomach," she said, rubbing it in pain. "Well, I did better than the commoner."

"Call him Mario."

"Eh?" Peach asked, turning around to meet Toad's solemn, slightly angry gaze.

"You may be the princess, but you can't call someone 'commoner'. You and Mario used to be friends." Toad pointed out, still giving her a disapproving look.

"...Yeah, a long time ago. But I've changed," she replied, looking frustrated. She began to take interest in her shoes, looking down.

"Meaning Mom's instilled her attitude in you." Toad said, hardening his face. Peach flinched, as Mario looked on from afar, confused.

"N-no! I've always hated commoners!" she insisted, her expression angry. "You don't know anything, Toad! You're not like me and Toadette at all!"

"I'm glad," he retorted coldly. Peach's face froze in shock. Mario walked forward, coming out of the shadows.

"Uh....are we done?" He asked, turning to Toad. "I think it's almost time for the ceremony."

Toad nodded, crossing his arms again. "Yeah, you two need to get going. We can start training tomorrow, so you can spend the rest of the day getting acquainted."

"Uh, sure, I guess." Mario said, scratching the back of his head. "Hey, Peach?"

Peach looked up, coming out of her daze. "Yeah?"

"Can you lead the way?" he asked, grinning stupidly again. "I don't really know where the ceremony is."

Surprising herself, Peach smiled. "Yeah, sure...**Mario.**"

_Please review, and keep remembering to_

_~Stay awesome_


	6. Dumped On

Mario grinned as the King called his name, and the crowd clapped and cheered as he approached, taking his license as a "defender of the monarchy". He figured it was so he wouldn't arrested for helping in a war or something stupid like that. He let the thought roll off his brain as he walked down the steps from the stage and headed over to the wall where everyone else who had gotten their license was either chatting excitedly or watching the ceremony boredly.

"Oh, hey, bro." Luigi said, beaming. "Doesn't my picture look so awesome? I'm really glad I did it that way."

Mario looked over the tiny picture on Luigi's license. In it, Luigi was picking his nose with unfocused eyes and an open mouth.

"Um...that's kinda gross." Mario said sheepishly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever you say, bro." Luigi replied, waving Mario off as he went over to brag about it to Leroy.

"Hey, Mario, check it out!"

Mario flinched as he heard that familiar loud voice behind him, and turned to see an excited Lily.

"Hey, Lil." Mario said, smiling brightly.

"Look at my license picture!" Lily demanded, her smile widening (if that was possible).

Lily had her arm back as if she were about to punch the camera, her tangled auburn hair on her shoulder and her brown eyes wide and bright as usual.

"Cool, Lil." Mario said truthfully, carelessly glancing at the info to the side of the picture. "Mine's too ordinary to compete with yours."

Mario showed his own picture, where he was giving a toothy grin and a thumbs-up.

"Aw, c'mon, it's not all that bad." Lily said, playfully punching Mario's arm. Mario rolled his eyes at her.

"Hey, you wanna hang out?" Lily asked, pocketing her license. "You and me and Luigi and Leroy--we could all go to a burger joint or something."

"Nah, I have to 'get acquainted' with my partner for the rest of the day." Mario said, making quote marks in the air at "get acquainted."

"Ah, you got Peach, right?" Lily asked rhetorically. "Sorry. We can all hang out if we're free tomorrow."

"OK, cool." Mario replied, giving her a thumbs up as the two walked away from each other.

"Hey." Peach said simply, walking up to Mario. She had been the last one to recieve her license and the ceremony was ending, people walking out or chatting in their seats.

"Uh...hey." Mario answered, not certain what to talk about.

"You wanna...get some food?" Peach asked, looking down at her feet. "I know a nice restaurant we could go to."

"All right, sounds good."

The two headed to the front doors and walked outside through them, right into an intricate brick pathway leading straight to the town square. Mario noticed a rather fancy fountain spewing water nearby, as well as several statues of short people with large mushrooms topping their heads, looking like oversized hats.

The duo recieved several stares as they walked along the sidewalk, and Mario felt annoyed by all the whispering people and some cold glares throughout the sea of citizens. He was happy to have their eyes peeled off of him as Peach led him into a small, quaint restaurant. The hostess looked up as the bell by the door rang.

"Welcome to Mushroom Deluxe, Princess Peach. And, uh, your guest," she said cheerily, sounding less enthusiastic as she referred to Mario. "How can I help you?"

"Can we get a booth somewhere?" Peach asked, peeking over the hostess's shoulder to look over the tables. The restaurant was mostly unoccupied, other than a few people sipping at milkshakes and a green haired man in a red jumpsuit literally seeming to swallow and inhale his food whole rather than chew it.

"Certainly," she said, leading the two to a booth near the aforementioned green haired man. "Your server will be with you in a moment."

As the dainty hostess walked back to her podium, Mario picked up his menu and began searching through it. After a few seconds, Peach did the same.

"The trout looks good." Mario noted, his eyes flickering between several choices. "But so does the steak...and that juicy jumbo shrimp bucket...what do I choose?"

"I'll just get the fettucini pasta and a salad." Peach said casually, placing her menu down.

"I can't decide!" Mario exclaimed, frustrated. "It's all so good!"

"Heh. You're kind of funny." Peach said, smiling again.

"It's not funny!" Mario continued, desperately searching through the menu again. "Why is this place so good? It's impossible to pick something!"

Just then the waiter came strolling up, holding a clipboard and pen. "I'm Noel, I'll be your server today," the man said, smiling warmly. "What can I get you?"

"I'll have the fettucini meal, with ice water." Peach requested, handing the waiter her menu.

"I...uh...urg...gah." Mario stammered, eyes zooming between names and pictures. "...Agh. I'll have the sirloin steak with fries, and I'll also have this...what's that?"

Noel crouched down at squinted at where Mario was pointing at. "That's chopped up mushrooms, celery, and chicken, all mixed together."

"Sounds great." Mario said, grinning. "I'll have it with the steak and fries, and I'll get a soda, too."

"OK, great." Noel said, reactivating his smile as he grabbed Mario's menu. "I'll get your drinks, and your food will be done shortly." And with that, he strode off to the kitchen.

"The smell of this place makes my mouth water." Mario said, drooling and sniffing the air. "I can't believe I've never been here before."

"It's pretty expensive." Peach explained, tapping her index finger on the table as she glanced over at the kitchen. "But I'm royalty and all, so I come all the time."

"That must be cool." Mario replied, looking over at the kitchen door as well.

"Sometimes it isn't." Peach said, sighing. "Actually, most of the time it isn't."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Mario asked, curious.

"Sometimes I just wish I was normal, like you. A commoner." Peach began, leaning her head back. "I mean, I know I act like I hate commoners, but I really just want to be like them. It would be great to go to school like a normal kid. But instead I have a ton of tutors for all these different subjects. It's annoying."

"I never went to school, either." Mario pointed out. "Everything I know in book smarts is from my mom."

"That's another thing." Peach said. "I wish my mom would hang out with me and go shopping with me and all that. But she pays all her attention to Toadette. It's like me and Toad don't exist."

"Seriously?" Mario asked, surprised by this piece of news.

"Yeah. The only reason I ever started hating commoners was to get her attention." Peach said, looking down at the table sadly. "It didn't work. It hasn't. It's...it's just-"

Peach stopped herself, shaking her head. "Why in the world am I dumping this on you? Maybe it's just we used to be friends, but..."

Mario grinned at her, just as Noel came out of the kitchen with their drinks. "It's fine. I like being dumped on."

_I guess you could say this was a filler chapter, character development or not. I'm also not very happy with how Peach suddenly came out with the truth about her peasant hate, but I didn't want her to be cold and enigmatic until another point it could have been revealed, so there it is. Reviews would be great (Five chapters and not one. T_T) and I hope you've enjoyed so far._

_~Stay awesome_


	7. Not That Bad

Mario and Peach trotted out of the restaurant, the bell by the door ringing. The man with the green hair from earlier came running up, causing the duo to freeze in shock.

"Hey, Princess Peach," the guy said, grinning toothily. "You on a date or something?"

"Date?" Peach scoffed, proceeding to laugh heartily. "You're kidding, right? Ah ha ha ha ha ha!"

_'She didn't even blush...' _Mario thought, deflated.

"Oh, sorry, my mistake," he said, holding up a hand in apology. "This is your...new teammate, am I right?"

"Yeah, he is." Peach said, nodding. "By the way, don't run up suddenly like that, Yoshi. It's creepy."

"Yoshi?" Mario wondered out loud, scrunching up his face in thought. "Oh, wait! You're Luigi's mentor, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Yoshi replied, looking at Mario weirdly. "How'd you know?"

"They announced it in the class." Mario explained.

"Oh!" Yoshi shouted, bopping himself on the head. "I guess I thought you knew beforehand and weren't allowed to tell anyone, like we had to."

"Yeah." Mario said simply. "Why were you eating so fast? That was insane."

"That's...just how...how I am. Yeah, it is." Yoshi said strangely, seeming to be searching for answers. "I just like to eat fast. It's how I function."

"Seriously?" Mario asked incredulously. "You were scarfing it down like nobody's business! It was awesome, man!"

"R-really?" Yoshi asked, taken off guard. "Um...yeah! Of course it is! I'm incredible!"

"Yeah, it would be sick to have a mouth like a vacuum." Mario said, grinning toothily himself.

"Sick?" Yoshi asked cautiously. "It's weird, isn't it? Augh! I'm a freak!"

"Hey, calm down!" Mario yelled, holding his hands up. "It's an expression! I didn't mean it like that!"

"Um...oh." Yoshi said, feeling stupid. "I guess I don't really know slang. Sorry about that." Yoshi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"...Yeaaahh." Mario said, suspicious. "We'll see you later."

"Yeah, sure. Later." Yoshi replied, smiling in a friendly way and zooming away.

"Wow, he's pretty fast." Mario noted, as he and Peach continued to walk along the sidewalk. "Not as fast as Luigi, but still quick."

"Luigi's really fast?" Peach asked, curious.

"Super fast." Mario said, thrusting his palm forward and making a 'fwooosh' sound to make his point. "Like, he can run at hyperspeed."

"Really?" Peach asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's cool. Is it because his element is Lightning?"

"More or less." Mario answered. "Maybe it's just natural."

"Ah." Peach said in understanding.

The two walked along in silence for a while, taking in the sights. Karts were making their way across the road, a few bikes mixed in as well. Various colorful characters could be seen driving the respective vehicles, and a rainbow colored bike could even be spotted. It was a joy to behold alongside the gorgeous architecture and beautiful wildlife. There was an air of happiness all over Toad Town, and anyone could feel it.

"Hey, it's 5:00 pm." Mario said, looking at his watch in surprise. "I've gotta go. My mom's gonna start making dinner soon."

"Yeah, I should go, too." Peach added, glancing at the cobblestone sidewalk for a moment.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Mario stated, smiling.

"Uh...yeah." Peach said, nodding.

The two stood there for a few seconds, not really sure what to do. Slowly, Mario walked down the sidewalk while Peach headed back up. Looking behind her shoulder, she smiled yet again.

_'Maybe Mom really is wrong about commoners.'_

Mario chewed unenthusiastically on some spinach, making a sour expression.

"Spinach? Seriously, Mom?" Mario asked in disbelief.

"You have to build up your strength for tomorrow." Maria argued, on her second helping. For once, she was eating faster than her sons, who were barely halfway done on their first plate.

"There's not even any meat here!" Luigi cried, pointing at the celery and lima beans as well. "I NEED meat! It's mandatory for me!"

"No, it isn't." Maria said, rolling her eyes. Unfortunately, she had expected this kind of reaction.

"Growing boys need meat." Mario pointed out.

"Just eat, okay?" Maria sighed. "I don't feel like an argument tonight."

Grumbling angrily, Mario and Luigi resigned to their food, eating slowly. After about fifteen minutes, they threw their plates in the sink and headed upstairs.

"G'night, Mom." Mario said, waving to the aforementioned.

"You're going to bed?" Maria asked, incredulous. "You NEVER go to bed this early."

"Tomorrow's the first day of training, though." Mario replied, talking to his mother from the railing. "I don't wanna sleep in by accident."

Maria shook her head. "Go."

Mario headed to his room without a reply, shutting the door behind him.

"Man, I'm excited." Luigi said, lying on his bedspread. "Yoshi is AWESOME! He can run almost as fast as me, and he can eat five pizzas in, like, twelve seconds!"

"Yeah, I know." Mario said wearily, flopping onto his bed. "Me and Peach ran into him today."

"You and Peach?" Luigi asked. "You were hanging out with Little Miss Perfect?"

"Toad told us to." Mario replied, getting under his covers and rolling on his side. "She's not that bad. Conceited, but not that bad."

Luigi looked at him weirdly. "...Really? She's a pretty big jerk, bro."

"I already said, she's fine." Mario retorted, irritated. "How's Toadette?"

"Awful." Luigi answered, rubbing his forehead. "Yoshi asked us to hang out, too, but we didn't even talk. After about five minutes, she left. I had burgers with Lily and Leroy instead. We were hoping you'd show up."

"You were obviously fine." Mario said, closing his eyes and squirming under the covers a bit.

"...I guess." Luigi said.

And with that, Mario was asleep.

"....Aaaggghhhh."

And with that, Luigi fell asleep, too.

_This one is really short, but the next chapter is a lot better, trust me. Reviews, please?_


	8. Aching Fists

Mario walked into the courtyard curiously, remembering where the door leading into it was from yesterday. He hadn't really had time to look around last time, though, as he had been thinking too much about his bloody head wound, as well as fighting Toad. He now realized that the courtyard was a wonder to behold. There were all sorts of trees in this roofless section of the castle, from dogwood to maple to oak. There were beautiful pink and yellow flowers, and the smell of honey and sap was seductively filling Mario's nasal passage. Mario sighed in pleasure, thinking it a good idea to just lay here and take everything in for a few hours.

But that wasn't why he was here. He was late for his first training session with Peach and Toad, and he was hoping against hope that Toad wouldn't yell at him. He quickened his pace to make the chances lower.

He was panting hard as he got to the clearing they last met, and he leaned down, clutching his knees. Toad gave a small laugh.

"You're tired already?" Toad asked, his expression bemused. "You'll be dead by the time we're done."

"Oh, shut it." Mario replied, standing up with wobbly legs. "What are we doing, anyway?"

"I'll tell you once we start." Toad said simply, taking a pocketknife out of his pants pocket and brandishing it carelessly.

"Don't do that! You could cut yourself!" Peach nagged, her face scrunched up in anger.

"I'm certain I know more about knives than you do." Toad retorted, smirking at her. "Don't be a control freak."

Peach muttered something incoherent, while Mario snickered. She slapped his arm in reply.

"Agh! What was that for?" Mario asked, rubbing his arm.

"Don't laugh!" she shouted, her face now red in anger.

Mario just frowned and kept rubbing, while Toad's smirk widened at the scene. They all stood there in silence for a minute or two, keeping to themselves. Toad twirled his knife around, his smirk not disappearing, Mario stopped rubbing his arm and began looking around and smelling again, and Peach slowly let her anger subside.

"Leading you here was more or less a joke." Toad said, finally speaking up. "We're not doing anything here."

"What?" Mario asked, bewildered. "What do you mean a joke? That's stupid!"

"I actually agree." Peach said, her anger seeping back in.

"Ah, come on, lighten up." Toad stated, waving them off. "Actually, what we're doing is much better. We're going to be out in the field."

"Huh?" Mario piped up, eyes widening.

"We're going to be taking care of some bandits. They've been stealing valuables from people right here in Toad Town." Toad explained, his face becoming serious. "They should be pretty weak, so it's a good test to weigh how strong you are aside from just fighting me. After all, I'm a lot better than either of you, so it's hardly fair."

Mario was about to protest against Toad's last sentence, but decided better of it and kept quiet. Peach seemed surprised, and even slightly worried.

"Any objections?" Toad asked. Silence. "Good. Meet me at the castle roof in five minutes."

Toad ran off into the path leading away from the courtyard entrance, before Mario could ask how to get to the roof.

"Um...Peach?" Mario began.

"Come on. I'll show you." Peach answered, sighing. She had predicted Mario's question before it was asked, surprising him.

"Uh, thanks." Mario said, following her back to the courtyard entrance.

"Gah...are...are we done...yet?" Mario asked, breathing deeply and very hard as he and Peach reached yet another staircase. His legs felt like jelly and he was sweating something awful.

"Ha ha. I guess I'm just used to climbing these stairs." Peach said, smiling and laughing lightly.

"Y-yeah." Mario panted, attempting to smile but unable to find the muscles.

"Well, we're almost there." Peach noted, making Mario's burden slightly lighter. "You won't have to suffer for long."

Surely enough, in about a minute they had reached a door leading out to the rooftop. Peach opened it, and Mario pretty much saw what he expected. It was a fairly small gray rectangle of floor, with two cylinder shaped towers in front of it. (Well, in back from here, as they had just entered from the door on one.) Toad was already was already waiting for them, his shoulder length brown hair blowing behind him in the wind. His eyes were closed, but he opened one and raised an eyebrow when he heard Mario and Peach's footsteps.

"Good, you're here." Toad said stoically, opening both eyes and walking forward now. "Now I can fill you in on the details."

"A'right, cool." Mario said in reply, grinning. He seemed to have gotten over his tire from climbing the stairs.

"From what my contact tells me, the bandits are planning an assault on the castle, and they'll be approaching from here." Toad explained, pointing to the floor upon saying "here." "Usually there's a guard here, but he's taking off since he knows we're here to stop it, and the bandits should be strong enough to take down a normal guard, anyway. There's about eight of them, but we have the element of surprise since they're just expecting, I repeat, a normal guard."

"Um, Toad?" Peach asked, appearing rather skeptical.

"Yeah?"

"Why are we even here?" she asked, the skepticism in her face growing. "You said it yourself, that you're a lot stronger than us and all. Couldn't you do this by yourself?"

"I also said that this is a test, for you two." Toad pointed out, talking animatedly again by to pointing to Mario and Peach upon the "two." "I'm not going to participate. I'll just observe, unless something gets out of hand."

"Out of hand? What do you mean?" Peach probed, her curiosity growing.

"If they're a lot stronger than I think, or you guys are a lot weaker than I think." Toad answered. "I'll step in and take care of them then, but hopefully I won't have to."

"Oh, come on, we're plenty strong enough for these goons." Mario complained. "I could take a normal guard, too. Plus, if they have to band together just to steal stuff, they're probably weak individually."

"Heh. You're a lot more ingenious than I thought, Mario." Toad commented, smirking.

Mario was about to boast, but suddenly grunts could be heard, as well as what sounded like a stream of people gripping on to things.

"They're coming!" Toad whispered, his voice almost like a hiss. Suddenly, he grabbed on to both Mario and Peach's arms and crouched down, dragging them with him.

"Blend!" he said, barely hearable. Slowly, Mario was shocked as noticed two things; one, he wasn't able to move, and two, Peach and Toad had disappeared, right before his eyes. It wasn't neccasarily sudden, but it was still quick. Flicking his eyes down to himself, his eyes widened as he saw nothing. It was then that realized they hadn't disappeared, but were just invisible. Then, he noticed that Toad was clutching on to his arm, which was probably another good hint.

Soon enough, the eight bandits were on the rooftop, done climbing up the castle. They looked around for a few seconds, and smiled stupidly when they saw there were no guards, and one of them muttered "stupid king." The others guffawed, and Mario thought he could feel Peach stiffen beside him, as well as hear Toad give a very low growl. The bandits didn't didn't seem to notice either action as they approached the door on the right tower.

Toad leapt to his feet at top speed, quickly motioning to Mario and Peach to do the same. They did, and the bandits prepared to strike Toad, not seeing Mario and Peach run up to them and knock them off their feet. Peach used her Crystal Barriers and slashed one across the leg, causing him to step back, giving Peach an opening to use the ice crystals as a blunt object and knock him off the roof.

Mario, in turn, punched one in the gut, causing him to keel over, and Mario pulled his arm back, preparing a ball of fire in his palm.

"Fireball!" he shouted, thrusting his hand forward and making the bandit's shirt catch on fire, and him cry out in pain. The bandit stumbled backward, and another one angrily tried to punch Mario in the head, but Mario swiftly crouched down to dodge and then zoomed back up, his fist making contact with the bandit's chin. A deafening KRAK rang through the air, and the bandit rubbed his jaw, unable to react to Mario kicking him in the stomach, throwing him back into another bandit and toppling them both over the roof.

The one who had caught on fire earlier now lay on the roof floor, unconscious, with only four left. One, purple in the face, tried to grab Peach, but she stabbed him in his flabby stomach, causing a small red stain to appear on his shirt. As he held his stomach, Peach reached her leg up and kicked him in the collarbone, breaking it and making him collapse.

The bandits now seemed to panic, looking around frantically. Mario raised an eyebrow curiously, but set aside his wonder for later. He ran forward, kicking one in the side, and then grabbing him and sending him flying into another (though with slight difficulty; this was one of the heavier ones). They both tumbled off the roof, though they nearly hit the right tower.

There was one left now, and he looked downright terrified. His face was white and and his palms were sweaty, and he held his hands up in pleading as Mario and Peach approached him.

"Please, don't!" he requested, getting down on his knees and begging. "What do you want? I'll do anythi-"

Suddenly, a musclebound, tall man leaped up to the rooftop and punched the scrawny bandit away. Mario and Peach's eyes widened in surprise, and Toad gritted his teeth, hoping this one wasn't too strong for Mario and Peach.

"Coward," the man muttered as he looked to the side, his face slanted downwards to see the bony, unconscious bandit crumpled on the ground below in a heap.

"Wh...who are you?" Mario asked cautiously, keeping his fists clenched.

"My name is Rupert," he answered, turning his head to Mario and Peach. His face was steely and stoic, yet somehow angry, as if his face was mixed with an overabundance of emotions, none of them particularly warm or welcoming. "I'm the leader of these men. Men that let some ten-year-olds kick 'em around. Pff."

"Hey, we're thirteen!" Mario protested, holding his fist up.

"All the same to me." Rupert said, his face a bit mocking now. "If you don't look tough, I'm gonna assume you're not that old. With how you two look, I thought you were nine or ten."

"Why, you...!" Mario shouted, running forward. Peach attempted to grab his jacket and stop him, but wasn't quick enough. Mario tried to slam his fist into Rupert's stomach, but the latter grabbed his fist before he could and punched him in the face, knocking him back. Peach became urgent and ran forward, attempting to strike Rupert, but he threw his right hand to the floor and swept her off her feet, quite literally, using his legs.

Mario got up upon seeing Peach hit the floor, and ran over to Rupert, leaping over Peach on the way. The two engaged in a fistfight, but while Mario was quite affected by Rupert's punches and was bruised every time he got hit, Rupert hardly even flinched when he was struck. In fact, Mario embarrasedly thought his hands ached a little when he hit Rupert's huge muscles.

Peach slowly stood up and activated her Crystal Barriers again, trying to get a surprise stab in. However, Rupert was alert, and pushed Mario aside and punched Peach in the gut when he saw her coming. Mario quickly thrusted himself up and punched Rupert in the side. While he gave a slight movement, Rupert still remained stoic and fluid in his movements, elbowing Mario in the face without even looking at him.

Toad now ran forward, figuring that this was a good time to step in. Rupert smirked smugly and threw a punch forward; however, Toad was able to dodge and struck Rupert in the side of the head, knocking him aside. Though surprised that he actually felt pain from Toad's punch, Rupert quickly stopped himself from completely falling and sprung back up, trying to punch Toad yet again. Toad crouched down to dodge and kicked Rupert in the stomach, pushing him backwards.

Rupert was snarling with anger now, and he lunged forward to hit Toad, but...

"FIERY FIST!"

Taken off guard, Rupert could only give a gasp of pain as he was hit by Mario and then had his back enveloped in fire. Toad gave a grin at his student's quick thinking, as Rupert had lost himself in rage and wasn't watching the whole area. Mario gave a thumbs up as a grimacing Rupert fell to the floor, making spastic movements and giving short grunts of pain as the fire began growing higher. Peach gave an "ewwww" at the sight of him.

"We could roast weenies on his back!" Mario shouted joyously, laughing. Peach looked at him, horrified that he found pleasure in something so gross. Toad just gave a small laugh.

"Good work." The King said, smiling at the trio after Toad had given him the report. "The fact that you took care of that bruiser gives me confidence in your skills, and with virtually no training from Toad."

"Oh, I'll be working them hard this week." Toad said, giving a pleasant half-smile.

"Well, I will too. I'd like you to extinguish some more trouble in a few days." King Toadstool commented, his face turning serious once again. "There's been a boy terrorizing hikers and explorers. I'd like you to knock him out of it, and bring him back here."

"Easy." Mario replied, grinning. "If we took a group of grown men, we can take a kid."

"Yeah, we can do that." Peach added, smiling confidently.

"Good." The King said simply. "You'll be going to the Forest of Flames."

Toad's eyes nearly covered his whole face.

The Forest of Flames.

Where Ricardo had died.

_This one's a bit long, so sorry if the chunk of time I took from your life was too big. Feedback would be awesome._

_~Like, yes, you should stay_


	9. Fake Weights

Toad bit his lip and once again pushed back his horror at the idea of returning to the Forest of Flames. He had not been there in five long years, and never had any intention of going back. Now he was being ordered to do so. He had to follow orders...but going back to that place, that awful place that had given him nightmares the next two years, it scared him. He thought nothing could ever scare him again after that day. But this pacified him. Terrified him, even.

Toad was pulled out of his thoughts when Mario got a mean punch in on his face. He responded with a quick sock to the jaw, knocking Mario back. Mario quickly caught himself and threw his body forward, attempting to get a punch in on Toad's cheek. Toad dodged with blinding speed, kicking Mario in the leg and knocking him down. He grabbed him by the collar and threw him into a tree with noticeable force.

"Man, Toad." Mario muttered, slowly picking himself up. "What did I do? I wasn't even late today."

"Sorry, Mario." Toad sighed, rubbing his brow. "I'm just worried about this assignment, going to the Forest of Flames and all."

"What's the big deal?" Mario asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's just the Forest of Flames. It's not like there's wild beasts there or something."

"It's just..." Toad began, thinking hard about a response that wasn't the truth. "There's a dragon population there. They might be dangerous."

"Dragons?" Mario asked, grinning widely. "Sounds awesome. Maybe I could ride one."

"I already said that they might be dangerous," informed Toad. "Riding on one would be stupid."

"Ah, come on, Toad." Mario begged, his expression crestfallen. "Riding on a dragon's back. What could be better?"

"Not being dead sounds pretty cool." Toad said sarcastically.

"Oh, shut it." Mario complained, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, is it my turn?" Peach spoke up, walking up to Toad. "Mario got his butt kicked. I think I'm supposed to fight now."

Toad replied before Mario could argue with her. "Yeah, we'll start. Mario, you lift those weights." He pointed to the weights he had made earlier that morning, and Mario's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

The "weights" were a pair of sturdy logs, with boulders attached on both sides. He slowly approached them, quivering slightly. Toad smirked in response.

"Scared?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"N-no." Mario answered, his back to Toad as he kept on walking. Toad smirked widely.

Mario slowly approached the weights, proceeding to grip them tightly before hesitating. Peach and Toad looked on in silence. After a moment of contemplation, Mario decided it wise to pick up the makeshift weights. He toppled over, gasping and heaving.

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Toad laughed, slapping his knee. "Man, Mario, my day wasn't going so great, but you just fixed it right there!"

Mario couldn't mumble angrily under his breath, because he was still trying to get the weight off of his chest. Peach even snickered at the sight of it, holding a hand to her mouth in an attempt to stifle it. Mario eventually threw the weights aside, but wasn't able to get up, still trying to catch his breath. Eventually, he wobbled himself upright, still breathing deeply.

"I...c-can't...lift th-those." Mario informed Toad, falling onto his face shortly afterwards.

"Oh, really?" Toad asked, bemused. "But I can lift them easily."

"I'm n-not..." Mario took a breath. "...you."

"So...you're wimpy?" Toad suggested, snickering devilishly. Mario slowly stood up, giving him a death glare.

"I just can't bench 10,000 pounds like you," Mario said icily, dusting his pants off. "Okay? Good. Now shut it."

Toad raised his eyebrows, but let the subject go. He turned to Peach and they began their training, Toad slowly falling back into thinking of the Forest of Flames. Mario, meanwhile, walked away into the deeper confines of the courtyard.

"Stupid Toad." Mario mumbled, kicking a few stones on the path away. "Thinks he's so great at everything, just 'cause he's taller than me and older than me and stronger than me and he's my mentor. He used to be cool back when we hung out and he took care of me and Luigi...now he's just annoying."

While monologuing to himself, Mario didn't notice just how far he had strayed from the clearing. He was quickly nearing the courtyard's edge.

"...and Toad should just go and tell himself to 'man up' or whatever, and maybe he should just go and-" Mario cut his ramblings off when he looked up and saw that he was at the courtyard's edge. Gaping, he noticed that there was a fence here, with plenty of slanted trees and overgrown grass behind it. A sign was nailed to the fence, bearing the large red words "FOREST OF FLAMES: DO NOT ENTER THROUGH THIS PATH."

"What the...?" Mario asked, slowly sauntering up to the fence, and felt a strange squishing sound beneath his feet. Looking down, he saw the ground was slightly moist here, even though it hadn't rained recently. Weird.

Looking back at the fence, Mario debated with himself whether he should go inside or not.

_It says not to enter this way..._

_But it looks like a cool place!_

_Toad doesn't seem to like it._

_More reason to go in!_

_There are dragons._

_See my last sentence!_

_Oh, shut up._

_Let's go!_

_That boy might be around!_

_I can take 'im!_

_Not without Peach and Toad!_

_I'm going in!_

_Don-_

_SHUT!_

That seemed to settle it. Mario began to climb the fence, quickly getting a hold onto the holes of the fence.

Toad knocked Peach away effortlessly, quickly running after her flying body and punching her again, knocking Peach into a tree.

"Aaagghhh!" Peach yelled in frustration, putting his face in her palms. "I thought I really had you...you faker!"

"Heh, it was brilliant," Toad argued, grinning widely. "Pretending to be hurt by the Ice Bullets was a brilliant trick...I loved myself for that.'

Peach scowled at him, swiftly standing up and getting into a fighting position. "I won't let you beat me! Let's go again!"

"Nah, I should apologize to Mario." Toad said passively, waving her off. "That thing with the weights was a bit of a dirty trick."

"Um...where IS Mario?" Peach asked, darting her head around.

Toad looked at her confusedly, but once he looked around he saw what she meant. Mario was nowhere to be seen.

"He probably just wandered off," stated Toad. "I can search for him right now if he has some energy stored in him; which he always should."

Toad quickly put his palms together and closed his eyes, constricting his face in concentration.

_'He's right around...!'_

Toad stopped dead in his thoughts, opening his eyes and widening them instantly. Peach looked at him questioningly.

"Mario went to the Forest of Flames!" Toad shouted, quickly running towards the pathway Mario had gone down. "Come on, Peach, we have to go get him!"

Though surprised by Toad's urgency, Peach got up and followed him, attempting to catch up to him.

"Woah...this place is cool!"

Mario was running throughout the forest, taking in the sights while dodging branches and underbrush. The forest was rather beautiful, not being as green as the castle courtyard, but looking more natural and somehow prettier. The branches were moist and incredibly brown, and it was slightly dark due to the positions of the trees covering up part of the blue sky. Mario quite enjoyed it, though the dewey air made it hard to create energy.

Mario quickly hopped up to a branch once he saw a fallen trunk, and the snake slithering out from under it. He was deathly silent, letting it slide away before he continued on. Once it did and he was able to breathe a sigh of relief, he leapt down to the tree trunk, making a clean landing. Though he was about to keep running, he was knocked down from behind, making him rub his head while on the ground.

"If this one of your dumb training drills, Toa-"

Mario whipped his head around, but who he saw was not Toad. It was a boy, one looked about his age, but seemed slightly taller and more muscular than him. He had light brown hair and black slits for pupils, with yellows rather than whites. He bore black cut-offs, a simple white t-shirt, and an open black vest. However, he wasn't fully human. And there was a reason.

His tanned skin was slighly rough and scaly, and his head was that of a red dragon.

A RED DRAGON.

Mario screamed.

_Review, please._

_~Stay awesome_


	10. In a Pinch

"You're...a dragon." Mario repeated, for the umpteenth time. "But a boy."

"We cleared that up already," the boy noted, smiling grimly, with a bit of a devilish glint inhabiting his eyes.

"It's...this is just...I don't..." Mario stammered, holding himself up from the ground with his hands. Slowly, he stood up, though it was a wobbly process.

"Few people have ever seen me before, you know," the boy mused, looking up at the clouds thoughtfully. "I'm kind of a freak of nature."

"Well...with a dragon's head, people are probably just scared of you." Mario pointed out, taking the boy's hand and climbing up onto the branch he was perching on, and crouched down beside him.

"I get that," the boy stated, sighing. "It's just that I've never really talked to anyone before. It's actually pretty lonely around here."

"Well, why have you been attacking tourists?" Mario asked, raising an eyebrow. This guy seemed nice enough, although the whole dragon thing he had going on was creepy.

The boy scoffed. "I DON'T. I just try to talk to them, and somehow these stupid people claim I attacked them. If attacking is the new term for friendly chatter, I'm a guilty man." He twitched slightly, but Mario passed it off as a bad habit.

"Ooooh. Sorry about that, dude. Raw deal for sure." Mario noted, making the boy nod in agreement in a bit of a jerking motion. "Hey, what's your name?"

"They called me Dragonahah back when I lived with the dragons." Dragonahah replied. "So I guess that's my name."

"Dragons? Are you serious?" Mario asked, with slight excitement in his voice. "Are they nice? Like, not the kind of angry dragons that run around and kill everything?"

"Yeah, they're fine." Dragonahah confirmed, giving Mario cause to pump his fist in the air; which he did. "Well, until they exiled me about three weeks ago." Mario stopped rejoicing.

"Really? Why?" Mario asked, intrigued.

"The Dragon Elder believed the stories that I was attacking passing pedestrians, although the rest of pack had faith in me," said Dragonahah. "He sent me away to live by myself, here on the outer edges of the forest. My mother, Tara, was devastated, but couldn't do anything to the Elder."

"Do you have a dad?" Mario probed.

"If I do, I've never met him." Dragonahah answered, casually grabbing a berry from a high bush and munching it down. "He must be human, though. I can't see any other reason to why I have a human's body and a dragon's head." Dragonahah sighed heavily and resumed his gaze at the sky. "So, what about your dad? Tell me what it's like to have one."

"My...um..." Mario cleared his throat. "My dad is dead. He...was murdered when I was eight." An uncomfortable silence followed.

"Oh. Cool," was all Dragonahah could manage. Mario felt his blood boil from how uncaring he sounded.

"Oh, cool?" Mario asked, staring at Dragonahah angrily. "Don't you care at all? Don't you at least miss your mother? You have to have SOME idea of what I'm talking about."

Dragonahah laughed. Loudly. "I don't care about her. What did she do for me? Nothing." Mario punched Dragonahah in the stomach, making him keel over and cough.

"You...ingrate!" Mario yelled, struggling to find a good insult before thinking of a word Toad had used once when he forgot to thank him for his present last Christmas. "How could you say that? If she cared enough to be devastated when you were exiled, she must love you a lot!"

"I already said...that I don't care," sputtered Dragonahah, before punching Mario in the face and knocking him to the ground.

* * *

"Mario!" Toad called out, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Mario, where are you?"

"Mario! Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Peach shouted, doing the same thing as Toad.

"Aaaagh! Where could he have run off to?" Toad asked, holding a hand to his sweaty forehead.

"He's probably fine, Toad." Peach noted, attempting to smile, but for some reason was unable to find one. "You know Mario. He's just being rambunctious."

"I DO know Mario." Toad repeated, stalking forward. "That's the problem. You've only known Mario for almost a week, Peach. If he goes off alone in a place like this for just five minutes, he could cause a cataclysm."

"Toad, he's oka-" Peach yelped as someone suddenly grabbed her around the stomach, and she was gripped tight against a cloaked body. Toad let out a tortured gasp.

"Not you. Anyone but you." Toad said, his voice cracked and choked up.

"Looks like you've become a life worth taking, my liege."

* * *

"You wanna know something?" Dragonahah asked, smirking as he slammed Mario into a tree, and held him there by the collar. "I did attack those tourists. I was hungry, and there weren't any animals around. Dragons have an appetite for humans. They're very tasty." Dragonahah licked his chops, an evil chuckle escaping through his mouth.

"Y-you...you...ATE them...?" Mario asked, struggling to speak due to the pain quickly spreading through his body.

"Oh, there were a few that got away with some chewed flesh, a missing arm or two." Dragonahah said mockingly.

"You...you monster!" Mario shouted, attempting to get out of his grasp; a useless attempt.

Dragonahah threw Mario away to the right, his body actually knocking down a tree until he fell to the ground limply. Dragonahah shook his head as he walked forward to his prey.

'_I lost my hold on him when I didn't pretend I cared about his dead father,' _thought a scowling Dragonahah. _'I really need to study proper etiquette more. I could have gone through with my original plan.'_

Mario stirred slightly and attempted to get up, but Dragonahah got to him before he could, and the half-dragon flung him into the air, quickly following by leaping up the branches. With a smirk, Dragonahah did a vertical spin in midair, kicking Mario back to the ground as he did. Mario went crashing to the bright grass below, and Dragonahah landed on him, cleanly rolling off his back in an instant.

Mario couldn't even say anything; his body ached horribly all over, and all he could do was make a sort of twitching motion and move his arm halfway up, both of which hurt extremely.

Dragonahah looked over Mario's crumpled body triumphantly, pure smugness filling him. He grabbed an intercom from his pocket and turned it on, talking into it with enunciation, obviously to be heard clearly.

"He's almost done for." Dragonahah stated, holding the circular device close to his mouth. "You want me to kill him or leave him for you?"

"What are you talking about?" asked the voice on the other end. "You were supposed to lead him to me! I wanted to do the whole job!" Dragonahah winced at the sharp words. He was usually arrogant and unflinching in the face of anyone, but the pure amount of power his employer had frightened him. He wasn't used to being frightened at all.

"Things got a little…complicated," explained Dragonahah. "I messed up a bit in the coaxing, and I didn't have a choice."

The voice sighed heavily, and he seemed to be grinding his teeth. "All right, fine. Just kill him, there's no real point in taking him to me."

"Good," was all Dragonahah finished with as he turned the intercom off and pocketed it, grinning evilly as he did so.

"Beating you up was just the half of it." Dragonahah said sadistically, slowly striding towards Mario. "Now comes the real fun, moron."

* * *

Peach was completely confused as she watched Toad stare in disbelief at the disguised man holding her, and the aforementioned disguised man chuckle slowly, clearly amused.

"Was I mistaken?" he asked, referring to his previous statement. "You look like you just saw the devil."

"I did." Toad said icily, somewhat composed now. The man laughed again, relinquishing his hold on Peach and leaving her free to run to Toad's side, cautious all the while.

"Toad, who is this guy?" Peach whispered, looking up at her brother curiously.

"He-" Toad barely had time to start a sentence before the man came rushing towards him, causing him to do the same and aim a punch at his head, only for the man to duck and throw a swift kick to the back of Toad's neck.

Toad gagged from the blow, sent to the ground, but immediately got up and aiming a kick of his own at the man's stomach. He only grazed the man's side with the heel of his foot, as he zipped up behind Toad and tried to slam his palms together to the sides of Toad's head. Toad sidestepped out of the way and got in a punch to the man's fabric-covered cheek; a punch that didn't even faze him, as if it had glanced off.

Toad took in a sharp breath, seeming to have realized something important. He hopped up to a high tree branch, before jumping back down to the ground, roaring ferociously as he did. Peach was taken aback, jumping out of his way as he landed on the spot she was previously standing on.

Toad had a slight black aura around him, and he was breathing very heavily, his chest rising and falling with each breath. His gray eyes had morphed into a sort of blackish-purple, and he was growling in a low tone, with slightly sharper and bigger teeth than before.

"Peach, get out of here." Toad commanded his voice slightly warped and raspy, not like his usual calm and relaxed tone. "Keep looking for Mario. Staying here will only hurt you."

Peach grimaced, looking between Toad and the pathway nearby in hesitation.

"I SAID GO!" Toad roared, turning to her with crazed eyes. Peach was taken completely off guard, and got up and ran out of pure reflex. Toad attempted to mentally punish and right himself, hating what he had done, but couldn't find it in his morphed brain to do so. This form tampered with his head while he was in it, and previous use of it had made him quieter and more focused, never wanting to do this to his loved ones ever again. But this time, it was necessary. Tora could not be defeated any other way.

"You've definitely learned some new tricks." Tora said thoughtfully, crossing his arms, his long sleeves falling back to reveal a pair of pitch-black gloves. A glint of brown flashed under his hood, and he chuckled.

"But…you're still nothing compared to me."

Tora rose huge, rectangular chunks of stone from the ground, and Toad ran to him with fury, determined to break them and Tora himself.

* * *

"Ur…urgh…" Mario moaned, doing the best he could to bring all of the muscles in his body into cooperation so he could get up. His current best was miles from enough for the task. Mario would have punched the ground if he had the strength.

"It's hopeless." Dragonahah informed him, stepping back and rubbing his hands in preparation. "You're going to die, so you may as well quit trying to live." That's what Mario's brain was telling him, but his heart kept on dreaming.

"I…I can d-do…do this…" Mario insisted, speaking slowly and in a pained tone of voice. "I…I won't l-l-let you…win…"

"Of course you won't." Dragonahah stated, his voice soothing in a mocking way. "Now, stay right there." Dragonahah leapt into the air, inhaling a huge gulp of air and clenching his fists, before releasing a large, hectic stream of fire. Mario widened his eyes in the seconds before death took hold of him.

Well, what he _thought _were the seconds before death took hold of him.

Mario slowly fluttered his open, weakly squinting at what was in front of him. A wall of ice, and someone's shadow projected on it.

"Is this heaven?" Mario asked, flicking his eyes to what was behind the silhouette. He thought he was dreaming for sure.

"Pinch me."

Peach did so.

"AUUUUUGGHHHHHHH! I DIDN'T MEAN IT LITERALLY!"

_I'm sorry for the long wait, but I hope you liked it. ;) Thanks to ChrisMSMB for the positive comments, and the reviews as a whole!_

_~Stay awesome_


	11. The Real Fun

_Thanks for the reviews, guys! I'll let it slip that I'm going to make a sequel once this is finished; it will jump forward about a year into the future. But! The first Mario Bros. Alternate is far from done; so let's think about that at the moment._

Dragonahah blinked in surprise, rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't daydreaming. Suddenly, he had just barely managed to see some girl jump beside Mario over the stream of fire he had spewed, and created a wall of ice that covered them both. Strangest of all, the ice _hadn't melted_. Dragonahah had never seen such a thing. This must have been some sort of special, empowered ice.

"P-Peach!" Mario shouted urgently, his voice croaky. "You c-can't do this! He's r-really strong!"

"You can't rule over my decisions, you dork!" Peach retorted hotly, clenching her fists. "You're the one who went and got beaten up in the first place!"

"Peach, y-you don't understand…" Mario said, worried, but Peach lowered the wall of ice in that moment, and warily walked forward to get closer to Dragonahah, who was looking her over skeptically.

"A…girl?" Dragonahah asked, sounding both surprised and confused. "That's strange…I've never met a female with such capabilities."

"You just met one, pal." Peach informed him, winking. "Now, I think it would be a lot easier for you if you just backed away slowly. Because trust me, you don't have a prayer of beating me."

Dragonahah laughed lightly, grinning fiendishly at Peach. "Oh, really, now? Why don't you try and fight me? I PROMISE your theory will be proven."

"Hmph. Fine!" Peach replied, taking a step back and creating the Crystal Barriers. "I'll snap your fat mouth shut in no time!"

'_N-no…' _Mario thought, staring in horror as Peach and Dragonahah were about to fight. _'Peach, you can't…please don't…I'm begging…y-you…'_

"All right." Dragonahah said coolly. "Well, let's begin, shall we?"

Peach nodded in agreement, and the two dashed towards each other, shouting battle cries. Mario shut his eyes tight, not wishing to see any of it.

Toad roared in anger as a darker mist swam around his right fist, and he pulled it back and used it to make a clean hole in the rock guarding Tora's chest. It made him pull back very, very slightly, but otherwise, the cloaked man of mystique was unaffected.

Tora reached through the hole and grabbed Toad's collar, roughly yanking his lean, muscular body straight through the hole, though Toad did make it a bit larger. Toad tried for a basic judo chop to the face, and Tora ducked in response, flinging Toad behind him and raising more rocks in that area in hopes of skewering his foe. However, Toad was smarter than that, and rolled out of the way just as a small, pointy rock missed his heart.

Toad made a clean series of somersaults across the ground to the side of Tora, a sharply-tipped rock just barely missing him and coming up behind his speedy figure every foot he traveled. Tora growled in annoyance, genuinely surprised that Toad was tricking him. He would have thought Toad had grown to be quite a bit stronger than Ricardo, had he not known that Ricardo was hugely underestimating him back when he killed him, and was much stronger than he was letting on.

Toad decided he was getting bored with this game, and made a straight leap towards Tora, trying for a kick to the face. Tora crouched down and made a full backwards leap, kicking Toad in the back and sending him into the face of a rock wall.

Toad roared in frustration, and slowly, he took on a more grotesque, beast-like form, his muscles buffing up, his skin turning slightly black, and the aura becoming heavier. His claws grew an inch or two, and his teeth became incredibly sharp and yellowed.

"GRAAAUUUGGHHHHHH!" Toad cried, running towards Tora at blinding speed, kicking up dust. Tora grinned, jumping into the air and landing on Toad's back. He literally rode the prince around for a few seconds before he was bucked off, sent flying through the air until he landed cleanly on his feet and lowered the nearby rocks he had previously raised.

"Heh…crap just got real." Tora mumbled, grinning evilly as a yellow flash appeared under his hood.

Peach swiped at Dragonahah, but the half-dragon leaped up to dodge and drop kicked Peach's head, sending her to the ground. Peach hopped back up, blindly shooting her elbow at whatever was behind her, that being Dragonahah's back. He let out an "Oof!" as he fell and rolled back up, turning around and sending a fierce glare Peach's way. Peach smirked at him, making a mad dash for him, and he changed his strategy.

Dragonahah leaped to a high tree branch and jumped back down, putting a double punch into Peach's stomach. Peach coughed and walked backwards slowly, holding her stomach, and Dragonahah grabbed her head and slammed it into the ground. He stood over her vulnerable frame as she groaned in pain, weakly, throwing her arm up and trying to hit Dragonahah. He simply stepped out of the way, and Peach let her arm fall back to her side, and receded her crystal barriers.

Dragonahah, laughing, continually stomped on Peach's side, as she let out loud gasps of pain every time she was hit. Mario, watching helplessly, seethed with rage, hardly able to put his eyes onto the scene. His blood boiled, and clenched his fists using the little strength remaining inside him.

"Stop…stop it…" Mario muttered, his eyes burning in anger. "Sto…stop it…!"

Dragonahah held Peach up by the neck and punched her continually in the stomach, making her throat produce cries of pain, sometimes screams. Mario's eyes widened to their fullest extent, and he filled with bloodlust. He wanted to make Dragonahah pay a million times over. He could not stand to lay on the ground and do nothing.

"Get…get up!" Mario ordered himself, suddenly feeling strength re-enter him. "Get up….GET UP!"

Dragonahah turned around and dropped both Peach and his jaw. Mario had sprung back, and his whole body was flaring with sparks and red-colored energy. His hair had turned a silvery-white, and his eyes were blood-red, with a tinge of fiery orange. His jacket and shorts were pure white, his shirt remaining the same color.

"You're not going to get away with this." Mario breathed, walking forward gracefully. Suddenly, he leaped into the air, reaching over twenty feet. Dragonahah stared, not believing what his eyes were showing him. Mario landed on Dragonahah, standing on him, and he pulled up Dragonahah's collar so that he was looking at him.

"DO YOU HEAR ME?" Mario asked, his voice a scream. "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET AWAY WITH THIS!"

Peach looked up, her vision slightly blurry. She was shocked as she saw Mario, and she pushed her hair back to get a clearer view.

'_I don't believe it…' _Peach thought, leaning her head forward just barely. _'Can this really be Mario?'_

Mario pulled his fist back, preparing to pummel Dragonahah to a bloody pulp.

_It's a bit of a cliffhanger at the end…sorry. *sweatdrop* Anyway, reviews would be great! This chapter was a bit short, but I guess I wanted it to have…effect? But, in any case;_

_~Stay awesome_


	12. Crumbling Satisfaction

Toad kicked Tora in the neck, making his head snap to the right. Tora returned with a left hook and followed with a typical punch to the stomach, which Toad was surprised by. Toad jumped backwards and leapt towards Tora, roaring ferociously and clawing the face behind the hood. Tora called down a lightning bolt, making Toad howl in pain. Tora ran off, whitish-blue flashing under his hood before he caused a wind current and soared up to a high tree branch. Toad followed him, going to the tree facing Tora and climbing up to a branch across from his.

"Heh...you trying to turn this into a face-off?" Tora asked, his cloak flaring in the wind as Toad stared him down, baring his newfound huge fangs.

"You…" Toad replied, holding up a claw. "YOU!"

"Hmph…you can barely say anything." Tora said mockingly. "That transformation turns you into a big hulking mass of muscles and flesh. You've gained brawn, but lost all your wit."

That clicked in Toad's clouded brain, and slowly, his aura dissipated, his teeth and nails receded, and his skin returned to normal. Panting heavily, he held his forehead after this process, cringing.

"Urg…my head hurts…" Toad said, his voice spacey. Tora chuckled, preparing to launch another attack, when Toad thought of one of his own, and quickly threw up his arms. Black, rusted chains snaked out of his wrists, and Tora stared in wonder. Toad flung them forward to Tora's body, and they wrapped around the cloaked man, and Tora's eyes widened as he spun around, the chains slowly grinding him.

"Heh heh…slowly but surely, I'll rid this world of you." Toad spat, his face full of triumph. "You won't be here to hurt anyone…not ever again! I'll rip you to shreds!"

Tora was surprised as the pain he was feeling slowly escalated, reaching an unusual amount. Tora's breathing became slightly labored, and he clenched his fists tightly. He began forming plans and dissecting them in his head, wondering how to get out of this. It was certainly a better strategy than a brute, frontal assault on him, which he could block easily. Now he was trapped, and Toad had outsmarted him.

"You can't do a thing, Tora." Toad reminded him. "Don't even try getting out of this one…you were finished the second the chains captured you!"

"We'll see about that, prince." Tora answered, wiggling his arms to test how tight the chains were. He noticed that he felt a burn of pain in his arms when he moved them, and he realized that small spikes were all over the chains and were digging into his skin. Further realization came when he felt warm liquid dripping down his arm.

"Urrr…" Tora growled, staring at the chains in defiance. Toad looked at Tora smugly, continuing to spin the cloaked enigma around.

"I feel so great…finally! Revenge!" Toad shouted joyfully. "I'm going to get revenge on you for murdering Ricardo…I'll make sure you don't go unpunished!"

"Other people would like that." Tora said casually.

"What, have you splattered even more blood since we last met?" Toad asked in disgust.

"Yes, actually." Tora said in amusement. "Quite a bit of blood. It's tasty to drink."

Toad just shook his head, tightening his hold and making the chains tighter still, causing Tora to groan as the pain shot up.

"You make me sick. You know that?" Toad asked, staring at Tora hatefully.

"For quite some time, my prince." Tora replied. "For quite some time, indeed…"

* * *

Mario threw Dragonahah to the ground after pounding him several times while they were still grounded, punching the half-dragon for each branch he leapt to, and then kicking him in the face, followed by a fierce beating while Mario was hanging from a slim tree limb by his feet.

"Guh…gaaaahhhh…" Dragonahah groaned, lying on the ground and cringing in pain, his body messily laid out on the grass as Mario approached him with clenched fists and a grimace.

"We're not done yet." Mario said gruffly, holding Dragonahah up by the collar and socking him in the jaw. Dragonahah spit out a tooth, air flying out of his lungs along with the sharp anomaly. Peach stared in slight horror, her face contorting and twisting as Mario cruelly beat Dragonahah.

"This is…I…" Peach said weakly, trying to form a sentence. Mario elbow dropped Dragonahah to the ground and then stomped on his ribs, making Dragonahah release a loud "GYAAAHHHH!"

"How does that feel, huh?" Mario asked, his breaths excited and crazed. "How does that feel?"

"St…st-stop it…stop!" Dragonahah requested, his breaths coming out ragged and distorted.

"No! You don't deserve for me to stop…you deserve to sink away into the dirt with all the rest of the world's vermin!" Mario yelled, continuing to stomp on Dragonahah's torso continually.

"Mario! Please…please stop it! I'm begging you, stop!" Peach pleaded, utterly terrified. Mario turned and looked at her face, and his eyes flashed blue, looking vulnerable and affected, but as he soon as he looked back at Dragonahah his eyes became red and cold yet again.

"I…I won't stop!" Mario replied, continuing his stomping parade on Dragonahah's chest. "I won't let him get away…he has to die! Or at least...feel as much pain as possible!"

"Mario! Stop!" Peach sobbed, tears from her eyes dripping onto the grass. The regular Mario came through yet again, and his eyes widened, again back to being colored blue. Though the other Mario attempted to come back, Mario held him from returning, and slowly, Mario's hair and clothes reverted as well, and Mario fell to the ground on his back, his arms spread out. Dragonahah peered over at his form quizzically.

Mario crawled over to Peach, awkwardly kneeling in front of her, his palms on the grass, as Peach's sobbing softened.

"Um…don't cry, Peach." Mario said, slowly putting his hand on top of hers. "Please don't cry…you're making me want to."

Peach looked up at him, pushing her hair back behind her ears, her brow furrowing. For some reason, her heart was racing…but it was probably nothing.

In the meantime, Dragonahah, very slowly, sat up, moaning as his bones cracked and turned.

"Aaaagghhhh…this isn't good…" Dragonahah said painfully, reaching for his intercom and pressing the button on the side. "I'm…heavily injured…he…he went into some kind of…Super Saiyan _(1) _mode or something! He beat…he beat me up…really, really good…"

"WHAT?" the voice on the other end screamed. "You…you…GRAAAAHHHHH!"

"Sorry…I guess…" Dragonahah said with indifference, as he turned the intercom off and fell back down.

"Uh…hey, Dragonahah!" Mario shouted, taking his hand off Peach's and standing up, walking over to him. "You fought a good fight. I don't really know what happened to me right then, but…thanks for the challenge." Mario crouched down and held his hand out to Dragonahah, smiling.

Dragonahah sat up again, and looked from Mario's hand to Mario's face in confusion. "You...why aren't you trying to kill me, like before?" Dragonahah asked, completely puzzled. "I just tried to kill you…it's fair game."

"So? Forgive and forget, I say." Mario answered, putting his hand forward a little. Dragonahah stared at it, and then shoved it away. Mario stepped back in shock as Dragonahah fell back down to the ground.

"I'd rather die like a warrior than live like a pantywaist." Dragonahah said sourly. "Forget it. I'll stay here and wait 'til I heal or 'til I die from exhaustion. One or the other."

Mario paused for a moment, looking very skeptical, before he nodded. "Okay. I guess I can respect that."

After that, Mario walked back over to Peach and helped her up; while he was gripping her, green fire from his hand traveled down her arm and made a trip over her body. Once she was fully standing up, she felt completely refreshed.

"That's weird…I'm not in pain in anymore." Peach said confusedly, turning her arms around and looking them over. "I felt a tingle go over me, but nothing else…"

"Heh…maybe Tinker Bell came by and sprinkled fairy dust on you!" Mario suggested, grinning jokingly at her as they walked by Dragonahah, heading back to the forest path.

"Oh, shut it." Peach said playfully, pushing his arm.

* * *

Tora gritted his teeth, wheezing disconnectedly through his nose. Toad smirked triumphantly, continuing to spin Tora around with the Shadow Chains, the spikes now fairly deep into Tora's skin.

"You…you've become strong, prince…" Tora said meekly. "But…make no mistake…I am…I'm not beaten…you will never beat me, Toad…"

"Yeah, right." Toad scoffed. "You're finished. You're barely holding on at this point. Just stop it."

Tora chuckled, as white flashed under his hood. Time stood still, and Toad's smug face became frozen, and Tora finally stopped spinning. After a flash of yellow, a single strike of lightning crashed onto the chains and broke them apart. Tora flexed his muscles and stretched as he relished in being free, though he did not enjoy his pain. Oh, well. That could be fixed later.

'_Hee hee…I want to see his satisfaction crumble once he sees me free from the chains…' _Tora thought, grinning slyly. _'Now, to start time back up…'_

Toad attempted to keep grinding as soon as he could move again, but was shocked to find the majority of the chains a useless pile on the tree branch. He looked behind him to find that Tora had jumped there, and he quickly leapt to the branch Tora had been on before in return. Tora was about to attack when Mario jumped in from behind, kicking Tora in the back of the head and knocking him down to the ground below. Toad gaped as Peach jumped in after him, landing smoothly on her feet.

"Hey, Toad!" Mario said cheerfully, waving at his mentor. Peach smiled at Toad in greeting.

"I…how did you…" Toad stammered, totally baffled.

"Gee, Toad, a 'thank you' would work just fine." Peach informed him.

Toad shook his head, groaning. No time to think about how they had gotten here. "Well, we haven't completed the mission, but I think we should leave and recuperate…"

"Oh, you mean the boy?" Mario asked. "Well, we got him."

Toad stared at Mario. "Wait, what? You got him?"

"Yeah. That's what I was doing, and Peach found me and helped." Mario replied, grinning. "He's done for. We beat him."

Toad was a little impressed, a little angry, and quite confused. But, he decided to throw out confused and level out impressed and angry, and began complimenting the duo while scolding them at the same time.

Meanwhile, Tora lay on the ground, seemingly helpless. After he saw that Toad, Mario, and Peach had all taken their eyes off of him, he got up, dusted himself off, and transported away, plotting all the while.

'_Good, I'll unleash that on them, and they'll never reach home,' _thought a scheming Tora. _'Heh heh heh…not only will I get rid of two of the Mushroom Kingdom's heirs, but I'll eliminate part of the Salastar line…perfect!'_

"So, do you realize now that you shouldn't be reckless and walk off into a dangerous place?" Toad asked, looking at Mario sternly.

"…Yeah, I guess." Mario mumbled, looking at his feet.

"Good." Toad said decidedly, looking off into the distance. "All right, cool. After we report our success, we can take the rest of the day off. We're going to move up to the next level in training tomorrow, so prepare yourselves."

"All right." Mario sighed, jumping to the next branch over. Toad followed suit, as did Peach. Soon they were in an uninterrupted rhythm, leaping from branch to branch and quickly getting closer to the forest's exit. However, it didn't stay uninterrupted long. Soon, Mario came into a wall of sorts, and let out an "Oof!" as he fell, keeping himself up by hanging onto the branch he was previously over with one hand.

"Hey! What was tha…" Mario began, before looking up and widening his eyes in sheer terror. He was facing down a thirty-foot-tall, snarling, green-colored dog. Peach thought her heart had stopped when she glanced at it, and Toad gulped loudly when he laid his eyes on it.

"Uh oh."

_(1): Heh. Dragon Ball Z reference. :P_

_The next chapter is yet another big fight, with a bit of a twist at the end. I hope you liked this one, and please review! ;) Oh, and another thing, I updated pretty quickly. Why, might you ask? I am, more or less, on a writing binge. XD_

_~Stay awesome_


	13. Tactics

Mario jumped back frightfully and yelped as the dog leaned its head down to him and tried to gobble him up. Mario quickly jumped up to Peach and Toad's branch and took a flying leap to the dog, grinning shakily but excitedly. The enormous dog roared and snapped its teeth as Mario grabbed on to its shaggy fur, slowly climbing up to the top of its head.

"Mario, come back!" Toad yelled, staring in disbelief as Mario clung to the dog's head as it shook around, making Mario himself swing around wildly. "That thing is going to kill you! Run away now!"

"I'M FINE!" Mario screamed back, trying to speak as the dog attempted to bite at him and maul him as he got to the top of its head. "TRUST ME, I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!"

"NO, YOU DON'T!" Toad and Peach yelled back at the same time.

"SHUT IT!" Mario retorted, as he sat on his knees and rose his arm up, letting flames shroud it. "FIERY FIST!" Mario struck the dog's head, making it roar fiercely and rear its head back, leaving Mario praying for his life as he lost his hold and fell to the dog's back and broke his leg.

"GYAAAAGGGH!" Mario screeched, breathing heavily as he grabbed at his fractured limb. "MY…MY LEG!"

"No!" Toad shouted, backing up one step before jumping at the dog as well. Peach looked after him, gaping.

"Urgh! You're going down, beast!" Toad informed the dog gruffly, as it looked up at him atop his head with insane red eyes. "STUNNING SHADOWS!"

Immediately following, the shadows of the trees on the ground slowly rose into the air, and then came down quick, bringing the dog down to the ground but avoiding Mario, who was cringing and curled up in a ball, holding his leg, on the center of the dog's back.

The dog hissed and barked as it hit the ground, the force of that impact making Mario and Toad bounce into the air and both letting out cries of pain once landing back on the dog.

"MY LEEEEEEG!" Mario screamed, close to tears. Toad's breath was strained as he bored into his own dislocated left leg with his eyes.

"Don't be a baby," Toad muttered, letting air out and in using low hisses.

"Shut UP!" Mario shouted, breathing through clenched teeth. "My leg feels freakin' DEAD, okay? I deserve to be a baby right now!"

The dog scrambled and whined, trying to escape the shadows' hold. Peach looked at the scene on the ground urgently, before looking back towards the direction they had come and saw fog. She realized something and began pulling it towards the area, and Toad and Mario bounced around and groaned as the dog continued to shake and move.

"Freeze!" Peach yelled, putting the fog into the form of a curved ramp and then freezing it, turning it into a slick slide made of ice. Peach smirked and jumped onto it, sliding down to the ground cleanly. After that, she saw the dog slobbering and barking, and froze his teeth shut, making his whines and noises sound ridiculous.

"Peach, get us out of here!" Mario ordered, not daring to move and make the pain worse.

"Okay, okay! I'll re-assemble it into…um…" Peach hesitated, biting her lip as she stared at the ramp of ice. "…A slip-and-slide! And I'll keep it going through the whole for-"

The dog broke through the ice binding over its teeth, roaring as he did. Peach screeched as she tumbled to the ground, and Mario and Toad both rolled off the dog's back as it got up, shaking about wildly to remove the rest of the ice.

"GYAAAAHHHHH!" Mario screamed, small tears escaping his closed eyes as he curled up, clutching his knees to his chin.

"GURK!" Toad coughed, his arm snapping loudly and drops of blood flying out his mouth once he hit the grass.

"We're…dead," Mario breathed out. "We're so dead."

"My…aah! My knee was dislocated!" Peach yelled, quickly grabbing at the aforementioned joint. "It…it HURTS! So much!"

"There's still hope, okay?" Toad shouted frantically, heaving enormous gasps of air in and out, with the dog's snarling, getting closer and closer, looming in the background. "We can beat him! All we need is tactics!"

"WHAT tactics?" Mario asked, his breaths strained. "Sit here and pray for a savior? Is THAT our tactics? 'Cause it seems like the only option!"

"JUST SHUT YOUR TRAP AND LISTEN UP!" Toad snarled, catching the two off guard. "We're going to die if we don't do SOMETHING! Now freakin' cooperate with me! I have a plan!"

Mario nodded slowly, his two rows of teeth grinding against each other. Peach, with difficulty, gulped and did likewise.

"Now, we can actually take it down if we just coordinate our attacks," Toad began, taking a more upright sitting position. "Mario, hit it right on the eye with a basic Fireball. Peach leaps in next and slashes it on the side of the leg with Icy Knife. I'll go in for the kill with Piercing Black, on the weak underbelly. Everybody got that?"

Mario held up his hand and gave an affirmative nod, as he began to aim for the eye of the dog. It looked down at him with red, bloodshot pupils, letting out a low growl. Eventually, Mario shot off a ball of flame at the beast's right eye. It yelped and made a terrible fuss once its vision on that side went out due to the fire.

"Peach, go!" Mario hissed, tumbling to the ground now that his part was finished. Peach hobbled up to the dog's back legs, grimacing with each hop across the wet grass. The lack of the sun was apparent, and a foggy gloom surrounded the clearing now, put together with a pale blue sky. It wasn't at all welcoming, and it made Peach nervous.

The dog caught a glimpse of her and leaned its head down, snapping at her damaged body. She screeched and jumped away into the bushes just in time, as Mario and Toad both widened their eyes in alarm. Once it could no longer see her, the dog went back to snapping about and whining, going crazy from the lack of any vision in its burned right eye.

Peach peeked her eyes out at the dog from the bushes, frightened half to death. She needed to perform her part of the plan, but the dog scared the wits out of her. She formed the Icy Knife, teeth chattering, and slowly crawled out of the underbrush and out into the open. The dog was distracted with the disabled eye, so Peach resumed her hobbling effort and made her way to the dog's leg. She slashed at it, drawing blood and a pained roar.

"I'm done!" Peach squealed, making a weak leap back to the bushes. She snapped some twigs with her hands and dragged herself back into hiding before she was spotted yet again.

"Got it. My turn." Toad whispered gruffly, creating dark mist around his arm. It took a shape similar to a sharp, jagged knife, and Toad limped to the beast as fast as he possibly could, breathing heavily. This was their last chance.

The dog noticed Toad and barked at him ferociously, nearly causing Toad to lose his cool and jump in fright. However, he didn't, and he made way to under the beast, and it tried to reach at him with its teeth once it realized exactly what was happening. Toad drew his arm back, smirking cockily, until the beast sent a cloud of purple poison his way by breathing it onto him.

Toad was overcome as the poison cloud surrounded his head, choking him and inserting venom into his bloodstream through his pores. Toad gagged and retched, unable to breathe properly. The dog scampered away, nearly trampling him, as he fell on his belly and passed out from both strangulation and the poison seeping through him. He would die soon if something wasn't done.

Something was indeed done. Three figures jumped into the clearing, shocking the still-conscious Mario and Peach.

"Sorry we took so long," Luigi declared, grinning flashily and winking at his brother. "We were held up by duties of our own." An indifferent Toadette scoffed, her hands on her hips, and Yoshi gave a nod to Mario before turning his attention to the beast.

"Do it, Luigi." Yoshi mumbled, his tone of voice low enough so only Luigi and Toadette could hear.

"Are you insane?" Toadette asked, not bothering to keep her voice silent. "He could DIE! I mean, it's not like I'm worried about him or anything, I mean, he's a commoner and I'm a royal, so of course I'm not worried, I mean, I'm DEFINITELY not worried, but I'm just saying! And don't forget I'm not worried!"

"Stop worrying, Toadette." Before Toadette could object to Luigi's statement, he stretched his arm out to the side. A small strike of lighting came down on his hand, and sparks of electricity danced wildly around his fingers. Once he balled up his fist, the sparks extended around his whole hand.

"Just gimme some prep. I'll kill it in one shot." Luigi claimed, grinning.

_Yes, we FINALLY get to see some action from Luigi's team. Sorry that this chapter took so long, I've been tied up with mafia. Reviews would be great! I hope you enjoyed it!_

_~Stay awesome_


	14. Chilling Cackle

_I'm pumping out this chapter fast because I have new inspiration. :P Plus, I kinda wanna start on the next one really soon, because it will showcase characters like King Boo, Dry Bones, and Daisy, and I really want to show their powers. There are only five or so chapters left, BTW. So, let's get on with it!_

Mario gaped at his brother as he walked forward arrogantly, the dog eyeing him and growling. From this position on the ground, the dog's humongous height was even more apparent; it stood at forty feet, towering over even the thin pine trees and solid oaks. The dogwoods shriveled in fear at the sight of the beast, nearly withering from fright.

"Listen up, you!" Luigi shouted, wiggling his fingers to get used to the lightning around them momentarily. "You'll be well done 'n extra crispy soon, so enjoy your final moments of life!"

'…_Well done and extra crispy?' _Mario thought, sweatdropping.

The dog barked and snapped, leaning its head down for a bite to eat out of Luigi. Luigi jumped onto its head and rose his arm again; a large bolt struck down and enveloped his arm, and a stream of green lightning swarmed around his arm.

"Ha ha! I got him!" Luigi yelled, holding up his clenched fist. "Mwee hee hee!"

Mario blinked in confusion, while Peach waited for an attack on edge. Luigi jumped off the dog's head and onto the ground, being careful not to let his right arm touch the rest of his body and shock him. The dog made a rather big jump and tried to land on Luigi; he yelped and ran out of the way, as the dog belly flopped on the ground and quickly got up again, intent on eating Luigi.

"Uh oh," Luigi muttered, rushing away from the ever-closer dog. It howled as it chased him, baring its huge teeth.

"You guys! Little help here?" Luigi called to Yoshi and Toadette, losing his breath fast. Yoshi nodded and crouched down, slamming his palms down on the murky earth. Geysers of mud and stray boulders went flying out of the ground, all of them crashing into the dog's torso. The dog let out a sound that seemed like part scream, part bark, brought down to the ground.

"Go!" Yoshi yelled to Toadette, who made an elegant flourish in midair with her hands. A clock made of wispy smoke was conjured in front of her, its hands moving and ticking like a regular analog clock. With another flourish, it stopped ticking and everything and everyone stopped moving, frozen in time. The only three who weren't were Luigi, Yoshi, and Toadette.

"Hurry! I can only do this for thirty seconds, and you know it!" Toadette cried, cringing in slight pain. Luigi gave her a thumbs up and grateful smile, before clenching his fist and taking a second to refocus all the lightning. He ran up to the dog and struck it right across the chest. It fell to the side limply, and a deafening crack sounded out; breaking bones.

"Okay! I hope that's all!" Toadette exclaimed warily, before releasing the time-stop just as the time limit hit. The dog snarled in pain and thrashed around on the ground as soon as it could move again, and Mario and Peach were completely confused by what had happened. To them, a second-long flash occurred and the situation had totally changed. Luigi's lightning had dissipated, Toadette was sitting on the ground, resting, the dog was going absolutely insane, and Yoshi had just noticed Toad nearby.

"Oh, crud," Yoshi mumbled, rushing over to Toad. A small puff of green poison was still hovering around Toad's mouth, and Yoshi had caught it and now was panicked, as he recognized the type of poison this was, and now recognized the type of beast this was.

As he crouched down next to Toad and pulled out a traditional Korean fan (the only thing in his pocket, coincidentally), he recalled what this dog was; the vampiric shepherd. A special type of dog that lived in the Badlands in the far reaches of the Mushroom Kingdom, it was filled with a venomous substance that manifested in clouds. The dog secreted it when its instincts felt it necessary, and evidently Toad had been fighting him and been assaulted by the poison. It had to be treated immediately before it could spread through the bloodstream, or else the victim would die.

Yoshi swiftly swept away the cloud using the fan, and realized that the poison was probably already spreading; Yoshi was conflicted, and held a hand to his forehead as he hyperventilated. He hadn't expected something like this. Toad was the kingdom's prince and one of his best friends. If he were to die, it would be pure havoc.

"Toadette!" Yoshi shouted over to her. He would have to do this quickly if he didn't want things to go south. "Get over here, now!"

Toadette ran by Luigi, who was staring smugly at the dog in triumph while he chatted casually with Mario and boasted of his "stunning victory." Soon enough, she reached Yoshi and gave him a very puzzled look.

"What's going on? I don't get it…" she said confusedly.

"Listen, you can put someone in stasis with your time powers, right? For two minutes?" Yoshi asked urgently, turning to her as he remained in a kneeling position.

"Yeah, I can. Why do you ask?" Toadette questioned, raising an eyebrow haughtily.

"Well, do it to your older brother now!" Yoshi snapped, standing up and picking Toad up in his arms, holding his limp form out to Toadette. Toadette was somewhat shellshocked to see her older brother; usually so strong; he was beaten. Passed out, pale. She gulped hard, chills going down her spine, and carried out another flourish. She was given x-ray vision of Toad's torso for a few precious moments; she gaped at the green liquid traveling through his blood, seeping along throughout his veins.

"DO IT!" Yoshi screamed, catching the attention of everyone nearby, taking their focus off of the still-struggling dog.

Toadette nodded, shivering slightly. She performed another flourish and lost her x-ray sight, but she knew that the functions of Toad's body had stopped, and they wouldn't start again until she commanded them to. After two minutes, she would begin to feel unbearable pain, and the only way to release it would be by starting time over wherever she had affected it and/or stopped it. In a time-stop of a large area, the time limit was a mere thirty seconds. She doubted she could hold a whole city for even five seconds.

Yoshi immediately ran off now that the deed was done, Toad gripped tightly in his arms, and Toadette felt a twinge of pain and the symptoms of an incoming headache. She groaned, hating it when she had to stop time.

"Well, like I was saying, Mar-" Luigi immediately stopped his statement and became white as a sheet once, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a livid vampiric shepherd, standing upright in front of him.

"I…uh…hi?" Luigi squeaked, convulsing wildly. Mario couldn't believe his eyes, and Peach and Toadette were both confused.

The dog roared and sent saliva and grains of dirt flying into Luigi's scrunched-up face. Luigi practically went soaring down the bare grass, screeching bloody murder and damaging everyone else's eardrums. Thedog chased him, braking crazily all the while.

Luigi glanced over his shoulder and widened his eyes, deciding to lead the dog in circles to keep it on him and off anyone else. He was hoping dearly for the best, and the best, luckily for him, indeed came.

Cracks of lightning and booms of thunder could be heard behind the gray clouds in the sky. Luigi perked up and realized this kind of luck was incredible. He skidded to a stop, holding up his hand and grinning maliciously.

"LUIGI! KEEP RUNNING!" Mario yelled, thinking his brother had gone totally insane. "ARE YOU SOME KIND OF IDIOT? KEEP FREAKING RUNNING!"

"Luigi! You're crazy!" Toadette spat hatefully, glaring daggers at him. "If you live I'm NEVER talking to you again! Not as if I talk to you now! Which, of course, I don't!"

"Luigi! Get out of there!" Peach said worriedly. Luigi ignored all of them, the dog catching up to him fast and about to gobble him up. However, the dog jumped back and yelped as all the lightning brewing behind the clouds came crashing down, forming on the entire right side of Luigi's upper body. Reaching from the base of his neck to his waistline and stretching out to his arm, the enormous mass of green electricity flowed and sparked gorgeously.

Mario blinked swiftly and rubbed his eyes, having difficulty believing exactly what he was seeing. He had no idea his brother was this…inhumanly strong. He needed to train tons more to not feel embarrassed about this again.

Toadette had to pick her jaw up off the dirt. This was incredible. Luigi had never shown anything like this in front of her. He and Yoshi had held a few private training sessions during storms, but she never imagined that this was what had been going on at them. Peach was equally dazzled, squinting at the bolts carefully. Mario's brother was…wow.

Luigi grinned, his expression snarky, and turned around slowly to face the shepherd. The dog was cowering in fear, practically vibrating. Luigi approached it, a crooked smile adorning his face. Suddenly, he broke into a speed-of-sound run, got to the dog's underbelly, and struck. He broke flesh.

"GOOOAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Luigi gently yanked his hand out of the dog's stomach; purple drops of blood were on both Luigi's messy hand and were trickling onto the ground. Luigi shook the liquid off, staring at it repulsively.

"Ugh! I didn't think triumph would be so…disgusting!" Luigi gushed, flicking the blood over to the dog's body. A forked tongue hung out of the dog's mouth, slightly punctured by various rows of sharp teeth. It was a bit of a reprehensible sight, overall.

Mario attempted to get up, but as soon as he accidentally placed the foot of his broken leg on the ground he gave a piercing shout of pain and tumbled to the ground. Toadette scoffed and rolled her eyes, taking a nail file out of her pocket and working at one of her nails furiously.

Peach got up slowly, a bit of muck sticking to her short pink dress and accompanying leggings. She hobbled over to where Mario, Luigi, and the vampiric shepherd's corpse were before collapsing, letting out a dragged-out heavy sigh. Luigi sat down and adjusted his long, heavy black scarf, which he typically wore.

Silence choked them all, except for the furious sound of file-upon-nail coming from Toadette, who was separated from the others.

Suddenly, pain overtook Toadette, and she moaned and shouted, holding her head and very quickly flourishing, releasing the stasis.

* * *

Just as Yoshi neared the exit to the forest, feeling hope come on, he felt a very feeble pulse from his grip on Toad's wrist; his heart almost stopped. He had forgotten the time. The two minutes were up, and Toad was nearly dead. He probably would be in only ten seconds.

As Yoshi kneeled down and put Toad down, looking for a final line of healing prowess within the reserves of his mind, a lanky boy, looking about 14 or 15, leaped down to him from the branches. He wore a very baggy white sweatshirt and equally baggy white sweatpants. His face seemed rather thin, though not so much that his skin clung to his cheekbones and jaw, and he had snowy white hair, though they were one or two streaks of white that looked…decayed, almost? He looked very odd.

Suddenly, he pressed his palms down on Toad's chest, and Yoshi was alarmed upon seeing that one could see the outline of his bones on his hands. And he had thought his FACE looked skinny! His fingers were also quite long and thin.

Suddenly, Toad stirred, coughing and hacking. He weakly rose his head up, covering his mouth. Yoshi's eyes bugged out of their sockets, and the boy jumped back to the branches, having never said a word.

Yoshi was stunned at himself for his lack of tact, and, cupping his hands around his mouth, shouted, "Thank you!"

Suddenly, another boy, seeming about the same age as the other, leaned his head out of the thick leaves, laughing in a chilling, cackling tone. It literally made Yoshi shiver just a bit. Blood; or some kind of blood-red substance that certainly was not lipstick; was smeared around his lips, and his eyes were the exact same color, bright and somewhat frightening. His hair was silver and had a spectral look about it; eerie, in other words.

"You're welcome!" he replied, before throwing his head back in the leaves and retreating. Soon afterwards, several bats came flying frantically out of the bushy treetops, getting the jump on the duo sitting on the ground.

"Yoshi?" Toad asked groggily, rubbing his head. "Who was that guy? Gosh, I got such a migraine…"

"I…have no idea," mumbled Yoshi.

_Reviews would be appreciated! Hope you enjoyed it!_

_~Stay awesome_


	15. Fake Invasion

_Though I originally had plans for another little story arc, it was pretty pointless and didn't add much to the overarching story, so this is the final chapter of Super Mario Bros. Alternate; we're ending at a clean, even 15 chapters. I'll begin work on the next installment: an interlude between this and the sequel. Mario Alternate, uh, 1.5, I guess: The Palace of Shadow. I hope you enjoy this chapter which basically wraps up some stuff._

Mario was a bit dazed from all the confusion with Toad. He tried to get it out of his head and looked over at Peach, who was crying silently. His face felt hot and hurriedly moved on to Luigi, who was picking earwax out of his left ear canal.

"Okay, even I have to admit that that's gross," Mario informed him, giving him a death glare. Luigi glanced at his brother calmly and shrugged, continuing. Mario shook his head in disgust and crawled across the grass to the edge of the clearing, peering between two thick oak trees. He tried to catch some sight of Toad or Yoshi, some sign that Toad was okay…

"What are you doing staring into space, you moron?"

Mario looked up at the treetops and was shocked to see Toad speaking to him from a piggybacking perch on Yoshi's shoulders.

"Toad! You're alive!" Mario shouted with joy, hugely excited. "Peach! Toad's alive! Yoshi saved him...somehow!"

Peach took a glimpse over in Mario's direction, and gaped at the sight of brother, wearing his trademark smirk. "T-Toad…!" sobbed Peach, clamping her hands over her mouth. "I thought you were…I mean, Yoshi was…"

"It's a long story," Yoshi interrupted her, holding up a hand. "For now, we should just get back to Toad Town so we can file in our assignments."

"How?" Mario asked cynically, staring up at Yoshi skeptically. "Me, Peach, and Toad all can't walk…my leg is probably broken in about 1,291 places." To add to that statement, Mario felt a jolt of pain in his leg and rubbed his knee uncomfortably, cringing.

Yoshi smiled smugly at him, before turning his gaze to Luigi and snapping his fingers. "Luigi! Come on. We're gonna carry your brother and his team home."

* * *

Luigi had Mario riding piggyback on him, while Yoshi bore Toad, with Peach and Toadette hanging on to either of his shoulders. Despite this, Peach and Toadette didn't add much weight so it wasn't that hard for him to carry all of them. Luigi complained that Mario put too much alfredo on his pasta, for which he received a prompt slap from his twin brother.

"It's still true," mumbled Luigi, rubbing his neck as his feet moved along the ground at hyperspeed. Yoshi was nearly neck-and-neck with him, not quite at hyperspeed but fairly close. Peach marveled at the running speed of both, blinking in surprise at the blur that Yoshi's feet were.

"Man, we gotta tell Leroy and Lily about this!" Luigi laughed, grinning toothily. "I'll tell 'em how Mario and Toad and the princess were totally failing against a tiny little puppy, but I came along and took 'im down easy! Hey, I bet Mom's gonna cook my favorite dinner tonight! Here I come, pork chops!" Luigi licked his lips while Mario rolled his eyes, refraining from making a comment even though he wanted to.

"Um…Mario?" Peach asked curiously, looking over at her partner. Mario returned her look with minor enthusiasm. "What was…that transformation back there? Your hair went white, and your eyes went red, and you just got all…brutal. You were so unlike yourself that…you scared me."

Toad's interest was now peaked, and he looked over at Mario as well. "What in the world is she talking about? A transformation?"

Mario attempted to remember, looking away and searching in the deep reserves of his mind. He squinted hard and gritted his teeth, biting down on his bottom lip. "I…I THINK I know what you're talking about, but…things are real fuzzy. I know I just got so mad at that dragon kid, because he was torturing Peach, and…I don't know. Something triggered inside me, and I was like a totally new guy. My skills got, like, mad. I'm serious."

"Yeah, he's telling the truth," added Peach, turning to Toad briefly. "I mean, he got this enormous boost in power, and, I mean, he rivaled you in ability. It was really, really weird."

Toad was caught off guard by what his pupils were saying. He didn't quite understand what had happened to Mario…but when he thought hard, he considered the possibility that such a transformation was connected to his own transformations into a Shadow Beast. He had attained the first form at Ricardo's death, and kept perfecting it until he could become the full beast. Unfortunately, he could only tap the higher transformations when he was incredibly angry or heavily overcome by some other emotion. He recalled when he got an electric guitar and was so giddy that he became a Level 3 beast…he would have to learn more about this form and train Mario in it so something like that didn't happen…

"What are you guys even talking about?" Toadette scoffed, staring at Toad and his students uneasily. "This talk about transforming and power increasing is kinda creepy…" She grabbed a piece of gum out of her pocket and chewed it, the bubbles she blew popping as soon as they came into existence due to the speed they were traveling at.

"How annoying," Toadette groaned.

"Well, it won't be annoying for long," said Yoshi, skidding to a stop and nearly flinging the three he was carrying onto the murky ground. "We're here! It's Toad Town!"

Everyone observed the sign and, for sure, they had reached their destination in a mere two minutes, inw hat should have been a 20-minute run.

"Uh…wow," Mario whispered, letting his mouth hang open disjointedly.

* * *

Mario, Peach, and Toad stood in front of King Toadstool, who was pacing in front of his throne uncomfortably. The stern-looking, gray-haired queen continued to sit on her throne, looking irritated by her husband not sitting by her side. The king had just received Toad's report about Tora, and was very troubled by it.

"So…that cretin still lives," sighed the king, stroking his short, spiky beard. "What a disappointment…I thought he had been wiped out so long ago…this is unfortunate. I have to consult with the military commanders…and, of course, we will meet in private with a few trusted individuals, Toad. You are one of the most capable elemental masters all around. I value your input, son."

"…Of course, Father," Toad said quietly, holding his wrist behind his back as he watched his father's pacing quicken as thoughts of danger and drama entered his mind.

"Oh, dear…what if he mounts a direct assault? If he was just wandering around the Forest of Flames…that's so close to us!" exclaimed King Toadstool. "Oh, please…I need just a little more time to stand up to him…we must hold him off…"

"Don't jump to conclusions, dear!" the queen spat, looking displeased with the king by the look of her sharp eyes and dead-set frown. "I doubt he's aiming for us directly…he simply recognized Toad from that old assignment and wanted to play some games with him. I doubt it's anything more than that."

The king seemed unwilling to let the subject go as just that, but ultimately, he sighed heavily and consented. "I suppose you're right…but we still need to meet. There needs to be some kind of preparation for this…I mean, Toma is the Rainbow Master. That's not a title to be trifled with, I mean-"

"He…uh…" interrupted Toad, making his parents look at him strangely. It was unlike him to cut in while they were speaking. "He, er, calls himself Tora now. He's dropped Toma."

"I don't care what he calls himself, to me he'll always be bloody Toma!" King Toadstool declared angrily. "That's what he was when he first attacked, and that's what he'll always be! I doubt that he's legally changed his name!"

"Actually, I have."

Everyone turned immediately to see a black-cloaked man flipping a coin in midair, leaning against one of the white marble pillars in front of the throne room's entrance. His hood was up to keep his face concealed. No doubt; it was Tora.

"What do you want?" Mario shouted, glaring sharply at the madman. It was the first time he had spoken up during the meeting. "Why are you doing this?"

"Heh heh…little Salastar. You want the answers to how everything works; how my mind works," Tora told Mario, his eyes aimed in his direction. "Unfortunately, that's just not the way things go. Not for you, not for Princey…not for anybody. Who knows why I do what I do? Maybe I'm a tortured soul who has never known the meaning of true love. Maybe I'm a menacing terrorist who wants to watch the world burn due to unfounded hatred. However…"

Tora stepped away from the pillar and pocketed the coin, walking until he was right in front of Mario. He outstretched his arms, and created a small gust of wind to make the flap of his hood fly back, revealing an evil grin. "…I like to believe…that I'm just crazy."

Mario, possessed by hatred towards his father's killer, roared loudly and pulled back his arm, letting it flare up. As soon as it became enveloped in a blanket of red flame, he ran forward, extending his arm. "FIERY FIST!"

He hit Tora straight in the stomach; Tora released an "Oof!" as Mario continued to run forward, ultimately smashing Tora into a pillar, making it break loudly and crumble down to the floor in tiny pieces. Tora fell back onto the pillar behind it for support. Peach extended forth her hand, yelling, "Deep Freeze!" Tora was frozen to the pillar, his torso and arms covered in crystal-like ice.

"We will kill you before you can leave this land!" proclaimed the king, grabbing his golden sword out of its sheath and rushing towards Tora, bearing the sword proudly. "Ha hah! You aren't that tough!"

Tora just smirked, as a flash of red came from underneath his hood. In the next few seconds, chaos struck.

The king's robes caught fire. He screeched, dropping the sword and trying to fan the flames out. Toad ran over to his father and began helping, while Peach simply froze his body and immediately melted it, effectively dispelling the fire with a lot of water. The queen's face was a very pale white, while Mario just stood to the side, dumbstruck.

"Agh…it still burns…" King Toadstool whined, cringing. The queen rolled her eyes, looking away as her face swiftly regained color.

"Are you okay, sir?" Mario asked uneasily, walking up to the old king. "I mean, that was a pretty dirty trick…you might be seriously hurt…."

"Worry about yourself, little Salastar."

Tora came up behind Mario in a flash, grabbed his leg, and snapped it backwards by the knee. Mario screamed at an ear-piercing volume, never having experienced such pain in his life. Tora shoved him to the floor; the fact that his leg made hard contact with the floor made him scream even louder, something Toad thought impossible.

"Put down the freakin' volume!" Toad screeched, not even hearable over Mario's cries.

Tora, wanting the sound to end himself, had a strange clear flash light up under his hood and placed Mario in stasis, holding out his hand and raising it; this caused a limp Mario to levitate in midair, dangling helplessly.

"What in the world are you doing?" Toad questioned, glaring at the mystery man. Tora shook his head and chuckled evilly, while the king and queen cowered near their thrones and Peach watched uneasily, hyperventilating in fear.

"Just having some fun with the little Salastar here," said Tora, two different flashes lighting up under his hood. "I think I better be going now. It was nice having this meeting, Princey, but I'd rather we save it for next time…when I come around here again."

And with that, the unconscious Mario was put out of stasis and flung onto the floor limply. In that same sliver of time, Tora teleported away, leaving no trace of himself behind.

There was total silence for a moment. However, just as the tension eased into serenity, Toad knelt down on the floor and rammed his balled fist into the marble matte, heaving with rage.

"CRAP!" Toad shouted, his face giving off the impression that he was utterly livid. Peach was concerned, and ran up to her brother, standing over his hunched form with uncertainty.

"Are…are you okay, Toad?" Peach asked curiously, gulping slightly. She was still quite taken off guard from Tora's sudden appearance, and thus looked quite pale and tense.

"No. No, I'm not!" Toad said forcefully, standing up, leaning down, and scooping Mario up in his arms. Peach was a bit taken aback at how gruff her usually calm older brother sounded right now. She bit her tongue, watching as Toad ran out of the throne room, evidently making his way to the infirmary. Tora had broken Mario's cast, and his leg had two open fractures and looked very, very bruised and swollen. Peach found it quite gross, actually.

Peach stood in the center of the room uncomfortably, as the king decided to make haste and follow Toad to the infirmary, running out the door and away to where his son was. The queen stayed put, sighing in a bored way and yelling, "Come," to Peach.

Peach, though confused, complied, turning around on her heels and striding up to her mother with a questioning face.

"Daughter," the queen said strictly, fanning herself with a traditional kingdom fan with a mushroom pattern on it. "I trust you have been acting appropriately around that Salastar boy, correct?"

Peach was utterly perplexed. "What in the world are you talking about?"

The queen sighed, smacking her fan back into the shape of a wide, but long black stick that could be separated in a split-second. "I know Toad refuses to listen to me on this subject, but communing with commoners is something I do NOT want you to do. It is forbidden."

Peach struggled to come up with an answer, looking down at her feet. Her mother eyed her warily, raising an eyebrow. "I'm waiting, dear."

"W-well, mother…" Peach began, looking up at Queen Toadstool nervously. "Mario…being around him has shown me something. He's shown me that…that there's nothing wrong with commoners. "Nothing at all."

The queen looked absolutely alarmed. "WHAT? I have drilled this into your head time and time and time again! Commoners are disgusting peasants with muddy, tarnished blood! You and your sister have understood this for so long! Is it age that is making you rebel! Has this boy manipulated you into thinking such foolish things?"

"No! Mario hasn't manipulated me to do anything!" Peach spat back, standing up to her mother in defiance now. "Mario is nice! He's not like the oh so hated commoners that you've told me lies about!"

"I WOULD NEVER LIE TO YOU!" Queen Toadstool roared, standing up out of her seat and glaring at her daughter with bloodshot eyes.

"YET YOU ALREADY HAVE!" Peach screamed back, walking up so close to the queen that they were nearly face-to-face, due to her mother leaning down to face her.

"DON'T SPEAK TO ME THAT WAY!" the queen screeched, slapping Peach straight across the face. Peach squealed in pain as she practically flew across the room, landing in a weak sitting position up against the floor. She moaned and rubbed her cheek as her mother, huffing and puffing, got off her throne and headed out a side door into her quarters.

A few seconds later, Toad walked in through the front doors and noticed Peach as she dusted herself off, a very sizeable bruise on her cheek.

"Wait, how did that happen?" Toad asked, frowning in confusion.

"Mom…she, um…she hit me," muttered Peach. Despite her low volume, Toad picked up on what she said, and was shocked.

"Wait, Mom HIT you?" Toad probed, trying to make things as clear as possible.

"…Yeah." Peach answered.

After a minute or two of silence, Peach walked up to Toad and buried her face in his chest. He sighed deeply, rubbing the back of her head and leading her out onto the balcony. There he sat down and began a little introspecting, with Peach curling up in his lap like a little girl.

As he searched his thoughts to find what he should do, Toad found that he could only predict three things in the future.

First, Mario and Peach, as long as he kept them in shape, were going to develop into very strong elemental masters.

Second, he probably should find a girlfriend.

Third, Tora should be in a hole somewhere, rotting until he died.

_The ending is kinda insufficient, but this is just a start. I want the characters to develop and age, and hopefully I can make this series last, if I can even call it a series. Anyway, I hope you've all enjoyed Mario Alternate! Stay on the lookout for the Palace of Shadow, the next installment! Thanks for all the reviews and feedback!_

_Oh, dear, I almost forgot. Remember to never, ever, ever forget tooooooo…_

_~Stay awesome_


End file.
